


The List

by doodles357



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Crushes, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2019-10-12 23:00:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 43,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17476604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doodles357/pseuds/doodles357
Summary: Cyrus sent TJ his list of easy things that he couldn't do without a second thought. When TJ takes a look over it later, he comes to the decision that he can keep helping Cyrus check things off the list. The fact that this means he gets to spend more time with Cyrus means nothing, right?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have never fallen into a fandom as quickly as I have with this one, and I needed to write some fic for these two. The show set this concept up so nicely but never went anywhere with it, so here we are.

Things I Can’t Do:

  * _Somersault_
  * _Cartwheel_
  * _All other gymnastics, really_
  * _Ice skate_
  * _Roller blade_
  * _Skateboard (tried and failed)_
  * _Ride electric bike_
  * _Rock climb_
  * _Bowl a strike without bumpers_
  * _Hit a baseball_
  * _Make a basket_
  * _SPORTS_
  * _Climb a tree_
  * _Monkey bars_
  * _Cannonball_
  * _Diving_
  * _Catch a fish_



When Cyrus said that he had a list of easy things he couldn’t do, TJ assumed he was joking, until the other boy actually sent him the note with the list. He had only glanced briefly at it on his phone, seeing the aforementioned somersault at the top of list, before turning his attention back to the conversation. He had all but forgotten about it through the course of events of the afternoon and being able to help Cyrus finally achieve the somersault. But later that night, when he was relaxing in his room, he remembered it and pulled up the list on his phone.

He found himself alternating between chuckling in amusement and disbelief as he read through the activities.  Some of them he wouldn’t have necessarily classified as ‘easy’ like a somersault was; lots of people didn’t know how to snowboard or rock climb. Others were surprising to him: climbing a tree and ice skating were things that most people learned how to do as kids, and he couldn’t believe that Cyrus couldn’t do them. Of course, he mused, there may have been a failed attempt at some point, which was why they ended up on the list.

_SPORTS_ made him chuckle. After seeing Cyrus in the gym, he could tell that the other boy was not the most coordinated person in the world. Knowing first-hand how competitive people could get when it came to sports, it didn’t surprise him that Cyrus hadn’t joined a sports team if he didn’t feel confident in his abilities, but that was the best way to get better. A lot of the other ones were more recreational hobbies or just general things that people did for fun.

_Skateboarding (tried and failed)_ intrigued him a little bit as well. He had the feeling there was a story behind that, and he made a mental note to ask Cyrus about it at some point in the future before he turned his phone off and started to get ready for bed.

\----

It wasn’t until a while after their dirt bike riding excursion that he realized he had helped Cyrus cross something off his list. It had been going so well, as Cyrus had been able to successfully ride the bike for a bit. If only Reed hadn’t gone and ruined everything with his stupid gun.  He would just have to ask Cyrus if he wanted to do it again in the future, without his idiotic friends coming along. But his realization gave him an idea. Cyrus had proved that he had the ability to do at least some of the things on his list; he just needed the right encouragement and support. And while TJ couldn’t do all the things on the list, he was pretty good at a lot of them.

The idea simmered in the back of his mind for a while, and he started to think up ideas of how to help Cyrus cross things off the list. Comparing the two different outings, he realized that Cyrus was a lot more relaxed and willing to try the new activity when it wasn’t put in the context of something he couldn’t do. He had been so hesitant when trying the somersault, and TJ had the feeling that he was a little embarrassed at first. But with the dirt bike, he had gotten into it fairly confidently, and had managed to successfully ride the bike faster than he had learned how to somersault.

So, he decided to not tell Cyrus about his idea. He would just casually invite Cyrus to do something with him and try to pick activities that would help him cross off the things on his list. Plus, it gave him more excuses to hang out with the other boy. He had been so psyched when Cyrus had agreed to go dirt bike riding, and the fact that the whole experience had been ruined still bothered him, despite the fact that the two of them had ultimately made up. TJ just wanted to hang out with no drama or problems – the fact that they had such an issue getting to that point was kind of ridiculous.

After scanning the list, TJ decided to rewrite it and divide it up a bit. Some of the activities were season-specific, and there were a few things he didn’t personally know how to do, so he wasn’t going to focus on those. A few minutes of rearranging later, he had a tentative plan laid out. He did a bit of Googling, and found an indoor rock climbing place near them. Then he shot Cyrus a quick text.

_Wanna hang out this weekend?_

_Sure! What did you have in mind?_

TJ sent him a link to the rock climbing place. Cyrus sent back a scared face emoji which made TJ laugh.

_Don’t worry, it’s easy. They have a system that’s for_

_people who have no experience._

_If I die, you’re giving the eulogy at my funeral._

TJ laughed out loud again. He had an inkling that Cyrus would be hesitant to try the activity, but he wasn’t outright refusing which was a good sign.

                                                                                                                            _Does 10 on Saturday work for you?_

_Yeah, I’m free._

_Do I need to wear anything special or bring anything?_

_Athletic shoes and gym clothes might be a good idea._

_My adventure shoes have been pretty neglected lately._

_Have they ever been used?_

_YES. Dirt bike riding, remember? And maybe like one or two other times._

_Well they’re gonna be getting some use soon!_

_Aahhhhhhhh_

TJ couldn’t keep himself from grinning widely throughout their entire conversation. This was going to be an interesting experience. And he found himself more excited for the weekend than he thought he would be.  


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full disclaimer: I have never rock-climbed in my life. This is entirely based off of some Googling. I also changed up the format of the texting because I didn't like how it looked in the last chapter.

Things I Can’t Do:

  * _~~Somersault~~_
  * _Cartwheel_
  * _All other gymnastics, really_
  * _Ice skate_
  * _Roller blade_
  * _Skateboard (tried and failed)_
  * _~~Ride electric bike~~_
  * _Rock climb_
  * _Bowl a strike without bumpers_
  * _Hit a baseball_
  * _Make a basket_
  * _SPORTS_
  * _Climb a tree_
  * _Monkey bars_
  * _Cannonball_
  * _Diving_
  * _Catch a fish_



They had planned to meet there and TJ found himself waiting in the entry way. He may have arrived a little sooner than he needed to. He told himself that it was because he wanted to make sure Cyrus didn’t have a fit of nerves and try to bolt before he arrived, but the truth was that he was the one that was slightly nervous. He told himself that he was being stupid; it was completely safe (despite any fears that Cyrus had) and the likelihood of anyone getting hurt was minimal. Plus, it was just going to be the two of them, so he didn’t have to worry about someone else ruining the experience this time.

It was just going to be the two of them. His stomach had given a slight jolt at that thought, but he pushed the feeling away, deciding not to dwell on it. He was simply helping a friend out. They were doing a fun activity that friends did all the time. There was nothing to worry about.

“I considered writing out my last will and testament before coming,” a voice announced behind him, making him jump slightly. Grinning, he turned to find Cyrus standing there, wearing athletic clothing and a look of exaggerated nervousness on his face.

“But you came anyway,” TJ shot back. “Maybe you have more faith in me than you thought.”

“Or maybe if I die today, I don’t have to go to P.E. on Monday,” the other boy quipped, matching TJ’s grin.

“I thought you were doing some dance thing,” TJ said.

“I am,” Cyrus confirmed. “I’m just calling it P.E. because it’s essentially the same thing. A physical activity that I am terrible at.”

“What about that dance you did at your Bar Mitzvah?” TJ asked him. “You looked fine doing that.”

Cyrus flushed slightly at that. “I forgot that you saw that. But that was different. It was me with my friends, goofing around! No pressure, no stress. It was just for fun.”

TJ just shook his head, a smile still on his lips. Cyrus had jumped out onto the dance floor in front of dozens of people, performing a dance routine that he was apparently learning on the spot without a shred of self-consciousness. But doing it in gym class was too difficult? Sometimes he wondered if he would ever understand the other boy’s line of thinking.

“Well, we’re not dancing today,” he finally said, changing the subject. “We’re climbing.”

“I suppose this is not the time to tell you that I don’t do well with heights?” Cyrus asked as he followed TJ up to the front desk. The other boy turned, gave him a look, and deliberately turned back to the counter to order two tickets.

Once they got in, an attendant got them hooked up to the harnesses and explained how the system worked. TJ had gone indoor rock climbing before with friends, so he was familiar with what he had to do and started pulling himself up with comfort. He soon realized that he had to go a bit slower if he wanted to match Cyrus’ speed. The other boy was climbing but going at a much slower pace. TJ could see he had a white-knuckled grip on the handholds and had a look of intense concentration on his face.

“Hey,” TJ called over to him. “Relax.” Cyrus shot him a look of annoyance.

“Easy for you to say, Spiderman.”

TJ burst out laughing at the unexpected nickname. “You’re going to be fine. The system is designed to stop you from falling if you slip. It’s supporting most of your weight right now. Loosen up and you’ll be more comfortable when you climb. Just don’t look down.”

Cyrus immediately shut his eyes. “Don’t say that! Now I’m not going to be able to resist looking down and it’ll be all over!”

Considering they weren’t any higher than maybe five feet off the ground, TJ highly doubted that Cyrus’ fear of heights would kick in, but then the other boy had proved to be susceptible to anxiety at lesser situations, he decided to not push the issue.

“Open your eyes, look up at your hands, and keep moving up,” he encouraged the other boy. “If you focus on the top of the wall, you won’t be thinking about what’s below you. One step at a time.”

Cyrus nodded in determination before opening his eyes and reaching up for the next handhold. He was still going slower than TJ, but his pace had increased somewhat, and he wasn’t clinging so tightly to the wall. Slowly but surely, they made their way up the side of the wall. Cyrus lost his grip at one point and slipped slightly with a yelp that startled TJ, but the harness kept him in place and he soon regained his hand hold. Instead of scaring him, it seemed to make him even more determined to finish. With renewed vigor, they continued their ascent to the top.

At long last, they made it all the way up. Cyrus gazed out across the gym with a rapt look on his face, drinking in the view from the top. TJ couldn’t help the giant grin spreading across his face at the other boy’s expression. Carefully balancing himself against the wall, he pulled out his phone with one hand and snapped a quick picture of Cyrus as he reveled in his accomplishment. When Cyrus realized what TJ was doing, he made a face and stuck out his tongue, which TJ also managed to get a picture of. He quickly slipped his phone back into his pocket after that, not wanting to drop it from that great of a height.

They started to make their way back to the ground. TJ had half-expected Cyrus to be nervous about the descent, but the other boy seemed to be riding high on his achievement of reaching the top and was chattering excitedly about how awesome it had been and how his mom was going to be proud of him for making it all the way up. TJ couldn’t help smiling widely at his enthusiasm and was almost sad when they reached the bottom.

“We get to go up again, right?” Cyrus asked him.

“Yep, our passes are good for the whole day,” TJ confirmed. “Let’s let someone else take a turn first. I need a drink of water.”

Cyrus agreed, and they headed to their lockers to grab their water bottles. The other boy was bouncing in excitement, and it was a complete contrast to how he had been acting when they first got there. TJ warned him that he was going to be pretty sore the next day, especially since he wasn’t used to this much physical activity, but Cyrus waved his concern away.

“This is really cool,” he said enthusiastically. “I can take the pain!”

They climbed a few more times before Cyrus admitted that he was exhausted. As they headed out, TJ slung his arm casually over Cyrus’ shoulders.

“So, you had fun?”

“Do you even have to ask?” Cyrus said. “That was amazing! I can’t believe I’ve never tried it before. I feel like I could climb a mountain right now!”

TJ laughed again. He found that he did that a lot around Cyrus; even when the other boy wasn’t trying to be funny, he made some comment or observation that ended up being so. TJ was happy that Cyrus had enjoyed the experience so much. He had been a little worried that it would be too difficult, and he was glad to find that it wasn’t the case. The fact that it was done now was a little disappointing, and he tried to shrug off the feeling. It wasn’t like he wouldn’t be able to hang out with Cyrus again.

Soon they were going their separate ways, and Cyrus waved goodbye to TJ as he bounded off in the direction of where his mother was waiting to pick him up. TJ watched him get into the car before he headed off towards his house.

\--------

That night, before he went to bed, he sent the two pictures he took to Cyrus. He didn’t get a reply that night, and wondered if Cyrus had collapsed in exhaustion. He got his answer the next morning when Cyrus responded to his picture message with,

_Cyrus: OWWWWWWW I CAN’T MOVE HELP_

TJ cracked up. He had warned Cyrus, but it seemed he had to find out the hard way. TJ was also a little stiff and sore, but since he was more active than Cyrus, his body was clearly coping better.

_TJ: Walk it off man_

_Cyrus: I can’t walk though_

_I can’t do anything_

_I will never move again_

_TJ: I thought you wanted to climb again_

_Cyrus: You’re going to have to carry me to the top_

_Next time we’re doing something easier on my body_

Next time. TJ felt the grin spreading across his face. He wanted to do something together again.

_TJ: Fair enough. Any ideas?_


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try and add a new chapter every Monday and Friday. I do have a good chunk of the story written already (and I kept changing the list so that's why I was waiting to post it right away). Hopefully I will be able to stick with that schedule, but my classes have started up again so hopefully grad school won't kick my butt too badly.

Things I Can’t Do:

  * _~~Somersault~~_
  * _Cartwheel_
  * _All other gymnastics, really_
  * _Ice skate_
  * _Roller blade_
  * _Skateboard (tried and failed)_
  * _~~Ride electric bike~~_
  * _~~Rock climb~~_
  * _Bowl a strike without bumpers_
  * _Hit a baseball_
  * _Make a basket_
  * _SPORTS_
  * _Climb a tree_
  * _Monkey bars_
  * _Cannonball_
  * _Diving_
  * _Catch a fish_



Cyrus had suggested a movie, but the showtimes were either too early in the afternoon or later after supper. TJ had suggested that they go bowling beforehand as a way to kill time until the movie which wasn’t showing until 7:30. The bowling alley was just down the road from the movie theater, they would be able to get something to eat while bowling, and hopefully they would be able to cross another thing off the list. He didn’t mention that last part to Cyrus though, as he still was keeping it quiet that he was trying to help him achieve the things he thought he couldn’t.

They met at the bowling alley around 4:30. TJ figured that it would give them enough time to bowl a few games and grab a bite to eat before they needed to head out. Since it was a Friday afternoon, the alley was pretty busy. Cyrus was waiting for him in the entryway and started babbling excitedly about the movie that they were going to be seeing later as they moved to get in line.

“One lane, two players,” TJ told the guy behind the counter. He placed his shoes on the counter in order to exchange them, motioning for Cyrus to do the same. He also put down the money for the cost, which Cyrus protested.

“Buy me popcorn at the movies and you can make up for it,” TJ told him, brushing aside the other boy’s complaints that it wasn’t fair for TJ to pay for both of them.

“If you’re really okay with that,” Cyrus said, putting his money away, looking slightly unsure.

“It’s fine,” TJ said. “This was my idea, remember?”

They grabbed their bowling shoes and headed over to their lane. TJ got his shoes on before jumping up to look for a ball. With so many people here, he hoped that some of the better ones were left. He hated getting the ones where the finger holes were too small. However, he soon located one that seemed like a great fit for him. When he came back to their lane, Cyrus was busy programming their screen.

“Did you want a funny nickname or just your regular name?” he asked.

“Doesn’t matter to me,” TJ replied. Cyrus hummed slightly before putting in both of their names the correct way.

“When I come with Buffy and Andi, we always use some kind of ridiculous name,” he explained. “I don’t remember the last time I used my normal name!”

He then squeezed out from behind the table to go find himself a ball. TJ noticed that he was apparently going to go first, but he decided to wait until Cyrus returned to actually start the game. It wasn’t until he stood in front of the lane that he realized how long it had been since he had gone bowling. He managed to get seven pins down total, but he could feel how rusty he was. It was going to take a few turns until he was feeling in the zone.

Cyrus was tapping something on the screen when he came back to the table, and he leaned over to see what he was doing. He was trying to pull up the command that would raise the bumpers.

“Nope, not today,” TJ said, batting his hand away. Cyrus immediately started pouting.

“But I’m really bad at bowling!” he complained. “I don’t want to spend the entire game getting gutter balls.”

“The only way you’ll get better is if you practice,” TJ countered. “Just like with any sport.”

“Have you forgotten that I am epically bad at all sports?” Cyrus said, but he stood up anyways and went to get his ball, sighing dramatically the entire time. TJ had to fight back a smile at his theatrics. He was sure that Cyrus wasn’t as bad as he said he was.

Or maybe he was. One gutter ball and one almost-bouncing-into-the-lane-next-to-them incident, he realized that Cyrus was actually really terrible at bowling. He tried to school his face into a neutral expression as Cyrus headed back to the table after apologizing to the couple in the lane next to them whose game he almost interfered with.

“I told you so,” Cyrus shot at TJ as he sat down.

“We just need to work on your technique a little bit,” TJ replied.

“You can’t improve something that doesn’t exist in the first place,” Cyrus retorted, and TJ had to restrain himself from agreeing out loud. Instead, he went to take his turn and contemplated how to help.

He bowled an eight in that round and was starting to feel as though he was getting back into the groove. And instead of sitting down, he gestured for Cyrus to come up and join him as the game flipped to his turn.

“Grab your ball,” he instructed Cyrus. “I’m going to set you up so your form is correct.”

“This is pointless,” Cyrus said but grabbed his ball anyways. “I can’t do this.”

“You can’t do it _yet_ ,” TJ corrected him. “Here, stand in the center.”

He moved to the side so Cyrus was standing in the center of the lane. He was cradling his bowling ball as though it might explode if he wasn’t too careful, and from the cautious looks that the couple next to him were shooting them, TJ could see that others were worried about what Cyrus’ performance might result in this time.

“All right, so you want to make sure you have a good grip on the ball,” he said. Cyrus patted the ball.

“Got it. It’s the letting go part that I have trouble with.”

“Okay. When you’re aiming, don’t aim for the center arrow. Aim for the one just next to it.  This way, you hopefully won’t get a split. Then you want to actually take the shot.”

TJ grabbed Cyrus’ shoulders and pulled him back from the edge of the lane.

“Typically, you want to take four steps forward. Your last step should be with the foot opposite of the arm you’re throwing with.” He demonstrated quickly. Cyrus nodded, his face one of complete seriousness. TJ stepped back and gestured at Cyrus.

“Try it without actually letting go of the ball.” Cyrus did so, somewhat hesitantly.

“Good,” TJ encouraged him. “As you’re walking, you should start swinging the ball back. Then once you plant your foot, you want to actually want to release the ball. Make sure that your arm follows through all the way up.” TJ demonstrated this move as well. Cyrus nodded once more.

“All right, try it!” he said, hopping back down to where the table was.

“Here goes nothing,” Cyrus shrugged and faced the lane. Taking a deep breath, he slowly but deliberately walked forward, swinging the arm with the ball forward. He released and the ball thudded onto the lane. It rolled slowly down the length. TJ could tell it wasn’t going to hit in the center and it was going too slowly to be a strike, but it was far enough in the middle that it gently knocked down a handful of pins at the end.

“I did it!” Cyrus jumped up and down in excitement. “I hit some down!”

"See?” TJ said, giving him a high five when he ran over to the table. “I told you that you could.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever hit pins down before without bumpers!” Cyrus exclaimed excitedly, looking up at the screen to see his score. Four pins had been knocked over. He fist-pumped before running back to finish his turn. The second time, he knocked four more over on the other side, leaving two in the middle still up. However, he was ecstatic about it. TJ couldn’t help grinning widely at how cute he looked jumping around in excitement.

They continued to take turns, and TJ found himself improving on each of his turns. On the sixth frame, he made his first strike.

“Awesome!” Cyrus exclaimed, giving him a high five as he came back to the table, before running to take his turn. He had been able to hit down pins on most of his turns so far, but still only a few each time. He made one or two more gutter balls but wasn’t as discouraged this time around. They ended the game with TJ having 115 points and Cyrus have 58. TJ was okay with his score; it wasn’t his best, but it wasn’t his worst either. Cyrus, on the other hand, was on cloud nine. He took a picture of his score and sent it to a bunch of people.         

“I don’t know if I’ve even got a score that high with bumpers,” he told TJ happily.

“Well let’s go again so you can keep trying,” TJ encouraged him, and Cyrus began to set up their second game. This was going to be their last game, because they would have to be heading over to the movie soon. As he was doing that, TJ went up and bought them burgers and a pitcher of soda for their supper.

Cyrus continued to do better on each turn throughout their second game, and as he was stepping up to take his turn on the last frame, a look of complete seriousness came over his face. He carefully positioned himself, took a deep breath, and then began stepping forward into the move. The ball was released smoothly from his hand and TJ watched with baited breath as it slid down the lane. It hit the middle pin, and the others started collapsing as it fell backwards.

The pin in the back right teetered precariously, and for a heart-stopping moment, TJ was sure that it was going to right itself. But then it slowly toppled over as well, and the guard came down to sweep the fallen pins away.

Cyrus stood in complete shock at the empty lane in front of him.

“You did it!” TJ shouted, jumping up. Cyrus turned to him, mouth gaping in amazement.

“I did it.” he repeated, before jumping up and down in excitement. “I did it! I got my first strike!” TJ ran forward to give him a hug, which Cyrus eagerly returned. It didn’t last very long, as Cyrus broke away to continue his happy dance. TJ decided that he would ignore the fact that his heart had sped up at the contact between the two and chalked it up to his excitement for Cyrus’ victory. With the game over, they started to collect their things and clean up their lane, with Cyrus pausing to take a picture of his new score with the strike in the picture. They went up to the counter to swap out their shoes and then headed out in the direction of the movie theater.

Cyrus was chattering excitedly the entire way there, going from his newfound bowling skills to the movie that they were about to see. TJ nodded and smiled along, but only heard half of what Cyrus was saying. The moment of their hug kept circulating in his head, and he was doing his best to push it away. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t help but notice how cute Cyrus looked when he was in full-on chatter mode, with his eyes sparkling and his hands flailing as he made a point about something. He recognized that his feelings were trying to tell him something, but he was also deciding that he was going to ignore them as best as possible.

At the theater, Cyrus insisted on paying for the tickets and popcorn, since TJ had covered the costs at the bowling alley. He physically pushed himself in front of TJ so that the other boy couldn’t hand any money to the lady at the counter. TJ just smiled and shook his head and decided not to fight it. He also ignored the voice in his head that kept pushing little suggestions that it felt like they were on a date. They were not on a date. They were two friends just hanging out on a Friday night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I split this section into two parts so the next chapter will be the rest of the park sequence.

Things I Can’t Do:

  * _~~Somersault~~_
  * _Cartwheel_
  * _All other gymnastics, really_
  * _Ice skate_
  * _Roller blade_
  * _Skateboard (tried and failed)_
  * _~~Ride electric bike~~_
  * _~~Rock climb~~_
  * _~~Bowl a strike without bumpers~~_
  * _Hit a baseball_
  * _Make a basket_
  * _SPORTS_
  * _Climb a tree_
  * _Monkey bars_
  * _Cannonball_
  * _Diving_
  * _Catch a fish_



It was an unusually warm weekend for autumn, and a bunch of them decided to meet up at the park. Buffy and TJ had decided to practice with some one-on-one and the others were going to just enjoy the nice outdoors before it started getting too cold to be outdoors. Cyrus found himself there first, with texts from both Andi and Buffy saying that they were going to be late. Andi had to help her mom with something at Cloud Ten, and Buffy apparently had some chores she had been putting off, and her parents were making her stay home until she finished them.

So he settled himself onto his favorite swing to pass the time until his friends arrived. He had just gotten a good rhythm going when it was suddenly interrupted by a pair of hands pushing on his back.

He yelped loudly as he found his swing much higher up in the air than before, and TJ sprinted out from underneath him, grinning widely.

“Underdog!” he declared, grinning cheekily up at Cyrus as his swing rocketed back and forth.

“You’re supposed to say that before pushing the person,” Cyrus protested.

“Whoops,” TJ said, not looking sorry at all.

Cyrus was slowing now and was soon able to scrape his feet on the ground.

“Where is everyone?” TJ asked him, and Cyrus then realized that the other boy was dressed in his athletic gear, clearly ready to play with Buffy. He explained the girls’ situations and TJ sighed.

“Buffy’s too scared to face me, isn’t she?” he said jokingly.

“I dare you to say that to her face,” Cyrus challenged him, to which TJ laughed.

“I don’t have a death wish,” he replied. He took a glance around the park before turning back to Cyrus and said, “Let’s do something while we wait.”

“Swing?” Cyrus offered, gesturing at the one next to him.

“Something else,” TJ said. “What else did we used to do as kids at the park that we don’t anymore?”

“Slide?” Cyrus suggested. “Although I think we might be too big now.”

“Yeah, I don’t really want to get stuck,” TJ agreed. “That would be embarrassing.” His eyes lit up suddenly. “What about the monkey bars?” Without waiting for an answer, he dashed off in the direction of the playground equipment.

“Wait!” Cyrus cried, digging his heels in and coming to a complete stop, then jumped off the swing and ran over to where TJ was standing under the monkey bars. The other boy was reaching up for the first bar, his fingertips just grazing it as he stood on tiptoe. Cyrus did his best to avert his eyes from the strip of skin that was revealed as TJ’s t-shirt rose up with his arms above his head. Instead, he focused his attention on the fact that TJ was apparently expecting him to _do_ the monkey bars.

He came to a halt in front of TJ, who lowered his arms and looked genuinely sad all of a sudden.

“I’m too tall,” he said forlornly, looking a bit like a kicked puppy. Cyrus tried to hold back a laugh at the expression on TJ’s face. He apparently didn’t do that great of a job because TJ’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re making fun of me,” he accused Cyrus.

“Not at all,” Cyrus assured him, trying to arrange his face into a neutral expression. TJ’s lower lip stuck out in what was undeniably a pout.

“Sometimes getting older really sucks,” he said, staring up at the bars with the same pitiful look on his face. Cyrus had to privately disagree, at least on this point. Getting older meant that kids thought playing on the playground equipment was childish, and he wouldn’t be expected to cross the monkey bars – or attempt to but show everyone that he couldn’t.

“You’re shorter than me,” TJ said suddenly, looking back at Cyrus.

“Thanks for reminding me,” Cyrus said. TJ waved his comment aside.

“Just a couple of inches. But it’s enough that you could do them.”

“But I can’t do them,” he protested finally. A year ago, he would have been too embarrassed to tell anyone (aside from Buffy and Andi) but he had grown more comfortable with TJ and knew that the other boy wouldn’t laugh at him.

“Well, it’s your last chance to try before you hit another growth spurt and end up taller than me,” TJ told him, and grabbed Cyrus’ shoulders in order to move him underneath the bars. Cyrus glanced up in trepidation. He did have to admit that the bar looked a lot closer to him than the last time that he attempted to cross them. In fact, he probably would be able to reach it by jumping and wouldn’t have to climb onto the platform to reach it. That startled him slightly; he hadn’t quite realized how much he had grown in the last few years until now.

He glanced over at TJ who gave him an encouraging smile, but also had a look on face that Cyrus knew meant they weren’t leaving until he at least tried. His friendship with TJ had resulted in him trying lots of new things that he never would have had the courage or ability to do otherwise. It wasn’t like Buffy and Andi hadn’t tried to help him with the monkey bars; they were both just naturally good at it and didn’t know how to get him to their level. Buffy, of course, was the kid who skipped every other bar. Andi did them normally but was still able to get across without issue. He had fallen every time he tried and eventually the girls stopped pushing him to try so he didn’t get hurt.

With a deep breath, he jumped and caught hold of the first bar. On the plus side, he was a lot closer to the ground than he used to be when he was younger, so if he did fall, it wouldn’t hurt as much as it used to. His arms were starting to ache, so he swung his legs slightly to get himself moving and quickly let go with one hand and reached out to the next bar. To his great surprise, he caught hold of it, and found himself suspended between the two. He brought his other arm forward and moved himself onto the second bar completely.

“You’re doing it,” TJ encouraged him, and Cyrus laughed slightly. Slowly but surely, he made his way across the monkey bars. His arms were aching with the strain, but they were holding him up so he kept going. Before he knew it, he was on the other side, and he kicked his feet up onto the platform so that he was standing on it.

“Whoo hoo!” he shouted, turning to face the playground. A few kids that were playing nearby gave him startled looks, and their parents gestured for them to move away from him. He didn’t notice this though, as he was caught up in his success.

“Nice job!” TJ said, reaching up to give him a high five. Cyrus knew it was kind of silly, but he was proud of himself for doing it. Sure he was a few years late, but he finally made it across.

“Now what?” he asked TJ, who looked surprised at the question. The other boy looked around before pointing at the fireman’s pole.

“Think you can handle that?” he asked teasingly, hauling himself up onto the platform next to Cyrus.             

“That is something I can do,” Cyrus joked, clambering up to the taller platform that was connected to the pole. He used to be scared of it when he was really young, but having Buffy as a best friend meant that you tried scary things. The pole wasn’t difficult; he just had to hold on tightly and fall, which where two things he was good at. Now looking at it, it seemed a lot shorter than the last time he slid down it. He supposed TJ was right, and things were a lot different now that they were older. He grasped the pole and quickly slid down. It was definitely a lot shorter than he remembered. He turned to watch TJ slide down after him. TJ frowned back up at it when he was down.

“That was not as fun as it used to be.”

“We’re too old now,” Cyrus joked. TJ sighed and shook his head sadly, which made Cyrus laugh again. Then TJ’s eyes lit up and he pointed. Cyrus followed his finger and groaned out loud.

“No chance.”

‘C’mon, you have to at least try,” TJ said, starting to head over towards the worst type of playground equipment that had ever been invented.

The rolling log was deserted, which didn’t surprise Cyrus. He never understood how anyone could find enjoyment on the piece of equipment that seemed designed purely to injure kids. The only thing that resulted from playing on the rolling log was skinned knees, bruises, and a face wash from the woodchips. Cyrus struggled with running on a flat, even, unmoving surface; attempting to do so on the rolling log was wishing for a swift yet painful death.

TJ apparently had no such qualms, because he hopped up onto the log, grabbed the handholds and balanced himself easily. He started running, spinning the log underneath his feet. He made it look so easy, but Cyrus knew the true dangers that the spinning hunk of plastic held. TJ then jumped off easily without even stopping

“Your turn!” he announced cheerfully.

“Nope.”

“C’mon, you have to try it,” he wheedled, trying to push Cyrus towards it.

“I have tried it,” Cyrus protested, attempting to dig his heels in. “And I failed. Painfully. That is not proper jungle gym equipment; that is a torture device.”

TJ just laughed at him and continued to push him until he was right up next to the log.

“Try it, and I’ll stop bugging you about trying new things for the rest of the day,” TJ promised him. “And if you fall off, I’ll catch you.”

Cyrus was conflicted; part of him (the scared part) wanted to be done trying new things. But another part of him didn’t, because he was enjoying goofing around with TJ. And another tiny part of him was going into overdrive, thinking about TJ catching him if he fell off the log. All of the different parts of him knew that TJ wasn’t going to drop the issue until he at least tried it though. So, with great trepidation, he grasped the handles and hauled himself up.

Immediately, he started wobbling, feeling the log twisting backwards under his feet. He started to walk forward, feeling simultaneously as though he was going to fall forwards and backwards off the log. The worry must have shown on his face, because TJ said,

“Look up at me, and don’t focus on your feet.”

“What else am I supposed to focus on?” Cyrus grumbled. “My feet are what should be going.”

“Look at me, and start running,” TJ repeated. “Don’t think about what your feet are doing. Pretend you’re running towards me, and your body should balance itself.”

Cyrus did so, not liking the feeling of not seeing what his feet were doing. Making sure he had a strong grip on the handles, he started running forward. He was still wobbly at first, but he kept his gaze locked on TJ’s, not looking down to make sure his feet were where they should be. TJ was grinning widely at him and kept calling out encouraging things. Cyrus laughed suddenly when he realized he was actually doing it! He had never stayed on the log for so long before. As soon as he thought about it though, he lost his concentration and his foot slipped. He managed to propel himself forward with his other foot, so he didn’t go shooting backwards off the log.

TJ darted forward, and half caught him as he hit the woodchips. With the other boy’s support, he didn’t wipe out like he normally would, but stumbled slightly. The log creaked to a slow stop behind him as he straightened.

“You did it!” TJ congratulated him, giving him a double high five once he had regained his balance.

“I did!” Cyrus said, still surprised. “And I’m never doing it again. That thing is evil.” He turned to glare at the log which was now sitting motionless. TJ just laughed and slung an arm around Cyrus’ shoulders.

“Let’s go swing now,” he said. “You deserve it.”

Their swings were still empty when they got back to them, but they were only able to swing for a few minutes before they heard a voice shouting their names. They both turned to see Buffy heading towards them, basketball under her arm, and a disgruntled look on her face.

“How was cleaning your room?” Cyrus asked her teasingly once she reached them.

“Not fun,” she grumbled. “I’m ready to do something fun now.”

TJ jumped off his swing and attempted to grab the basketball from her, which she easily evaded.

“Nice try, Kippen,” she taunted. “But I’m going to be winning this game.”

“Let’s just find out if that’s true,” he bantered back, and they took off in the direction of the basketball court. Cyrus followed behind them at a slower pace. He smiled as he listened to them bicker playfully back and forth. He was glad that they were finally getting along after everything that happened. It made things a lot easier for him, and he much preferred it when his friends liked each other. Plus, TJ and Buffy had a lot in common, even though they probably wouldn’t have admitted it. And with them being friends with each other, it meant they could talk basketball and he wouldn’t have to pretend to understand what they were talking about.

Andi showed up about ten minutes later with a blanket and a bag of snacks. She and Cyrus set up the blanket on the side of the court where they could kick back and watch the one-on-one game together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those rolling log things at playgrounds are truly torture devices. 
> 
> Anyways, thanks for all the feedback! I'm glad people are enjoying this story so far.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't remember if they had a non-trademarked version of Snapchat in the show's universe, so they're using Snapchat oops.

Things I Can’t Do:

  * _~~Somersault~~_
  * _Cartwheel_
  * _All other gymnastics, really_
  * _Ice skate_
  * _Roller blade_
  * _Skateboard (tried and failed)_
  * _~~Ride electric bike~~_
  * _~~Rock climb~~_
  * _~~Bowl a strike without bumpers~~_
  * _Hit a baseball_
  * _Make a basket_
  * _SPORTS_
  * _Climb a tree_
  * _~~Monkey bars~~_
  * _Cannonball_
  * _Diving_
  * _Catch a fish_



Cyrus had lost track of how long Buffy and TJ had been playing. He and Andi had alternated between watching them play, chatting together, and messing around with Snapchat filters on Andi’s phone. Andi could take a simple picture, and then snazz it up with the paintbrush and other fun tools in a way that no one else could. As a result, they had made a lot of really cool pictures together, which kept them entertained. Eventually, Buffy and TJ made their way over to the blanket for a water break.

“Who’s winning?” Cyrus asked. Both of them looked at him in slight disbelief.

“Weren’t you watching?” Buffy asked after taking a long swig of water.

“Sure,” he replied. “Doesn’t mean I knew what was going on.”

She just sighed as TJ shook his head with a smile.

“So?” Andi prompted. “Who’s winning?”

“Me,” both of the players said at the same time, before giving each other annoyed looks.

“Tie!” Cyrus cried before they could start arguing about it, causing Andi to laugh. Buffy rolled her eyes but flopped down onto their blanket without complaint. She grabbed one of the granola bars that Andi had brought and ripped it open eagerly. TJ took one that Andi offered him thankfully, and they sat there quietly for a few moments while the two players got their breaths back.

Cyrus eyed the basketball that was sitting on the edge of the court and the grass. He sometimes envied his more athletic friends. While he knew he had no coordination or athletic ability, he sometimes was a little jealous of their abilities. Being able to make a basket or do a cool trick with the ball seemed like it was effortless for them, but he usually missed by a mile or accidentally bounced the ball off his foot. It wasn’t for lack of trying either; Buffy had tried to teach him many times. He just didn’t have the knack for it.

“Wanna play?” TJ asked him, seeing where his attention had gone.

“I don’t need to embarrass myself,” Cyrus said with a self-deprecating laugh.

“We don’t have to play against each other,” he suggested. “You can just shoot around if you want.”

“You can show him this time,” Buffy said, stretching out on the blanket and closing her eyes against the glare from the sun. “I’ve done my duty. It’s someone else’s turn.”

TJ jumped up at the suggestion. Cyrus pouted, knowing that he was now going to be playing basketball. Reluctantly, he looked up into TJ’s eager expression and with an over exaggerated sigh, he pushed himself off the ground and followed his friend to the court.

Buffy scooted over to Andi and sat up as they watched the boys make their way onto the court.

“This should be interesting,” she commented.

Andi had already pulled her phone out and had the video app open.

“It’ll be entertaining for sure,” she agreed.

TJ was already dribbling when Cyrus joined him on the court, and he gave the athlete a long-suffering look.

“Here,” TJ said, bouncing the ball over to Cyrus, who caught it without too much fumbling. “Show me what you got.”

“What do you mean?” Cyrus asked. “I don’t ‘have’ anything.”

“Take a shot,” TJ gestured at the hoop. “Show me what I’m working with.”

Cyrus positioned himself under the basket. Technically, he knew how he should shoot, but he never made a basket that way. Plus, he figured if he started off by being ridiculous, it might overshadow how bad he truly was at basketball.

Crouching, he swung the ball between his legs and flung it towards the basket in a granny shot. Unfortunately, he miscalculated his aim and strength, and the ball hit the edge of the rim and shot right back at him. He yelped loudly and managed to dodge out of the way, tripping over his own two feet in the process.

From the blanket on the sidelines, he could hear the girls roaring with laughter. Unbeknownst to him, Andi had filmed the entire thing, and since they could tell he wasn’t hurt, they were in hysterics over the sight of what had just happened. When he glanced up at TJ, the other boy had a look of shock on his face as he processed what had just happened.

“See, I told you I was bad,” Cyrus said, dusting himself off and acting as though he hadn’t almost accidentally decapitated himself with a basketball.

“Um,” TJ said, trying to collect himself. “So that was…wow.” Cyrus grinned slightly self-consciously, ignoring the cackling from his friends on the sidelines.

“Okay,” TJ said, grabbing the ball which had rolled back over towards them. “Let’s…try that again. Differently.”

He directed Cyrus to stand facing the hoop and started walking him through the steps of how to position his body. He handed Cyrus the ball and showed him how his hand should be placed on the it. Cyrus nodded seriously, now intent on not completely screwing up. It was one thing to make a goofy shot and mess up, but he did want to actually be able to do this. TJ took the ball back from him and demonstrated a shot, which swished cleanly through the basket. As it bounced back towards them, he tossed it to Cyrus and stood back to let the other boy take a turn.

Cyrus positioned himself the way that TJ had shown him and took his shot. To his surprise, it hit the backboard and bounced onto the rim. However, it bounced off to the side instead of falling through the net. TJ chased after the ball and Cyrus tried to not feel too disappointed. That was one of the closest shots he had ever made, but it still hadn’t gone in.

“Try again,” TJ said, passing him the ball. “Loosen your knees too. You’re too stiff when you’re shooting.”

“I’m concentrating,” Cyrus countered.

“You’re concentrating too much,” TJ said. “You want your form to be good, but if you focus on that too much, you won’t feel natural when you’re actually shooting.”

He grabbed Cyrus’ elbows and started wiggling the other boy’s arms around. Cyrus giggled and accidentally dropped the ball.

“What are you doing?” he asked TJ as the boy started swaying his body around.

“Loosening you up,” TJ replied with a grin. “Look, your legs are still locked. Shake ‘em out!”

Cyrus shook one leg then the other. He felt silly, but it did make him feel a little less tense. TJ let go of his arms and grabbed the ball again. Cyrus lined himself up and tried to move more fluidly. His shot got close again but didn’t make it in. undeterred, TJ chased it down and bounced it back.

“Again,” he said.

“What if this takes me seventy tries?” Cyrus asked.

“Then you’ll take seventy shots,” TJ replied.

Cyrus tried again. And again. No matter how close he got, the ball refused to go in.

“Try bending your wrist back more,” TJ suggested. “And bring your elbow down lower. That’ll give you more air.” He came to stand behind Cyrus and brought his arms around the other boy. His hand encased Cyrus’, and he guided Cyrus to how his arm and hand should be positioned. However, this position also caused Cyrus to lose concentration. Even though he knew TJ was doing this to show him correct form, it was more than a little distracting to feel TJ’s arms around him. He tried to focus back on the basketball, and not the fact that goosebumps were erupting on his skin, despite the heat of the day.

After fixing Cyrus’ form, TJ stepped back to let him try another shot. 

And on his next shot, the ball hit the backboard squarely and dropped down into the net.

“I did it!” he yelled, jumping up and down. He heard cheering from the grass, where the girls were sitting. He had almost forgotten they were there. TJ ran up and gave him a double high five.

“I told you!” he said.

Excited, Cyrus picked up the basketball and made another shot from where he was standing. To his great surprise, it made it into the basket again.

“Yes!” he exclaimed. “I’m playing basketball! Buffy! One-on-one, let’s go!”

Buffy just snorted loudly from where she was reclined on the grass, and he heard TJ laughing as well. He knew he was nowhere near his friend’s level of ability, but he was suddenly feeling a lot more confident about his abilities.

Cyrus made a few more shots before TJ suggested a game of HORSE. The two girls jumped up to join them, and they got the game going. Cyrus eventually ended up being the first one out, but he lasted a lot longer in the game than he normally did. Andi got out a few turns later, and they found themselves once again watching TJ and Buffy battling it out. The two began attempting increasingly difficult shots, but both kept making shots over and over. Finally, Buffy made a granny shot that TJ missed. She gloated for a bit, and the four decided to hit the Spoon for a post-basketball snack.

As he tucked into his baby taters, Cyrus couldn’t help but feel giddy. Normally he felt drained after doing something athletic with his friends. Even though he was the first to joke about his lack of athleticism, sometimes it wasn’t fun to sit on the sidelines and watch everyone else succeed. But he had actually been able to play today, and he had a lot of fun doing it.

He happened to catch TJ’s eye and the other boy grinned widely at him, causing a jolting sensation in Cyrus’ stomach, bringing the memory of the other boy’s arms around him back into his mind. Cyrus just smiled back and tried to ignore the feeling. He knew what it was, but he had decided to not acknowledge it. After what had happened with Jonah, he didn’t want a repeat of getting his hopes up over something that he knew was never going to happen. Instead, he turned his attention back to his food and tried to catch up with what Buffy and Andi were talking about.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was planning on posting this yesterday, but had a bit of a crazy day. It's a longer chapter though, so enjoy!

Things I Can’t Do:

  * _~~Somersault~~_
  * _Cartwheel_
  * _All other gymnastics, really_
  * _Ice skate_
  * _Roller blade_
  * _Skateboard (tried and failed)_
  * _~~Ride electric bike~~_
  * _~~Rock climb~~_
  * _~~Bowl a strike without bumpers~~_
  * _Hit a baseball_
  * _~~Make a basket~~_
  * _SPORTS_
  * _Climb a tree_
  * _~~Monkey bars~~_
  * _Cannonball_
  * _Diving_
  * _Catch a fish_



Autumn soon rolled into winter, and with the change in seasons came cold weather, a new set of sports at school, and more opportunities to check items off of Cyrus’ list. There was really only one winter activity, and TJ supposed that they could technically do it at any time of the year since there were indoor ice rinks around. But he always found that it was more fun do ice skate in the winter, especially at the outdoor rink that was set up every winter. 

It turned out that he didn’t even have to be the one to suggest it. He was just finishing up his English homework one night when his phone buzzed.

_**Cyrus** : Hey, would you be interested in going ice skating this weekend?_

_**Cyrus:** Buffy’s trying to get a group together to go._

_**TJ** : Sure, sounds like fun._

_**TJ** : Are you secretly an ice skating champ?_

_**Cyrus** : Haha you’re hilarious._

__**Cyrus:**_ I will likely die. Or break a bone. I’ll just be the water boy. I am good at that._

_**Cyrus:** Or maybe hot chocolate boy instead?_

_**TJ** : Hmm, I think I definitely need to come now so I can get you on the ice._

_**Cyrus** : If I die, you’re paying my funeral bills._

_**TJ** : It’s a risk I’m willing to take._

Before long, the weekend arrived and TJ met the group at the rink that was set up in a nearby park. Cyrus, Buffy, Andi, and Jonah were already there, but hadn’t bought their tickets yet. TJ gave Cyrus a fist-bump in greeting, while the others just waved at him. Buffy had brought her own hockey skates that looked well-worn. Everyone else was apparently going to be renting.

“Who are we waiting for?” TJ asked.

“Amber’s coming,” Andi informed him. “And so is Marty.”

“He’s right there,” Buffy interrupted, pointing behind TJ. The aforementioned boy strolled up and immediately launched into a debate with Buffy about who was the best skater. Andi and Cyrus both rolled their eyes at the banter but looked more amused than annoyed at the argument. They only had to wait a few more minutes before Amber bounded up to the group, figure skates in hand. The group moved to get in line and purchase their tickets and rent skates for those without.

TJ got his laced up fairly quickly and turned to see where the others were at. Buffy was also done and was already standing up. Marty quickly finished too, and they headed off towards the ice without a second look. Clearly, they were ready to start racing (or whatever they were planning on doing to prove they were the better skater).  Andi, Amber, and Jonah were all pretty close to being done, but Cyrus was lagging behind. He had both his skates on but was still trying to unknot one of the laces from the previous wearer.

“Need some help?” TJ offered, scooting over on the bench towards him

“Yes please,” Cyrus said, looking frustrated. TJ hoisted the other boy’s foot up, causing him to yelp at the sudden change in position. He carefully braced Cyrus’ foot between his knees and made quick work of the knot. Then he proceeded to start lacing up Cyrus’ skate for him.

“Geeze,” Cyrus winced as TJ yanked tightly at the laces. “Am I going to be able to feel my feet after this?”

“Do you get a lot of blisters after ice skating?” TJ asked him.

“I mean, if I’m actually out there long enough I do,” Cyrus said. “Usually I give up before then, but if Buffy can convince me to skate for longer, yeah I usually do.”

“If you don’t lace your skates up tightly enough, that’s usually how you get them,” TJ said, finishing up the first skate, lowering Cyrus’ leg, and gesturing for him to raise the next one.

“There’s a tool that you can use to get them really tight but I don’t have one, so I’m just going to have to rely on pure strength.”

“Well, you’re definitely stronger than me,” Cyrus grinned. TJ finished up the second skate before getting to his feet. Cyrus rose too, and almost immediately started wobbling in place.

“Whoa,” TJ said, throwing out an arm to steady Cyrus. “We’re not even on the ice yet.”

“I told you I was bad at this,” Cyrus said. “It’ll be a miracle if I can get to the ice without an issue.”

“Let’s go,” TJ said, and the two started towards the ice, Cyrus teetering the entire time. TJ stepped onto the ice and was prepared to take off, but he glanced behind him at Cyrus. The other boy had one skate tentatively on the ice but looked terrified to actually put any weight on it. TJ glided back over towards him and held out his hands. Cyrus grasped them immediately and allowed TJ to pull him onto the ice. TJ could feel the other boy leaning backwards and he tugged Cyrus forward gently so that he didn’t end up slipping and falling on his back.

“Lean forwards towards me,” TJ told him, trying to get him to steady himself. Cyrus did as he was told and stopped wobbling as much.

“Human beings were not designed to strap thin pieces of metal to their feet in order to slide around on ice,” Cyrus huffed as he tried to start moving his feet forward. “Whoever came up with the idea of ice skating was crazy.”

“Just because you’re bad at it doesn’t mean that it’s a bad thing for everyone,” TJ teased him. He started to skate backwards slowly, still holding Cyrus’ hands in his own. The other boy had no choice but to start moving, but his feet were still all over the place.

“One leg at a time,” TJ coached him. “Right foot and glide. Then your left. Don’t try to go so fast.”

Cyrus huffed again but he listened to TJ’s instructions and slowed his movements down. It took a few tries, but he was able to get himself into a comfortable rhythm.

“Don’t look at your feet,” TJ said. “It’s only going to distract you.”

“But I need to see what I’m doing,” Cyrus argued, looking up at TJ.

“And I need you to let me know if I’m going to run into anyone,” TJ retorted, as he was still going backwards. The more advanced skaters were easily moving around them, but he was worried that he would accidentally plow over some young kid that was going slow around the rink as well. Cyrus considered this and kept his gaze up, but occasionally glanced down at his feet as though to make sure they were still doing what they were supposed to.

As Cyrus got more comfortable, TJ started moving a little faster. Cyrus matched his speed and he was soon grinning at how much fun he was having. Their friends had passed them once or twice at this point (or several times in the case of Buffy and Marty) but he didn’t seem to mind that they were going a little slower. After they made a full lap of the rink, TJ smirked at Cyrus and let go of his hands.

“Hey!” Cyrus protested.

“Keep going!” TJ encouraged him, spinning slightly so that he was skating next to Cyrus instead of in front of him. Cyrus wind milled for a few seconds and TJ pressed gently on the small of his back, forcing him to lean forward, which helped him regain his balance. After a few more fumbled glides, he managed to get himself back into the comfortable rhythm that he had achieved earlier.

“I’m skating!” he exclaimed. “I can’t believe it!”

“I told you so,” TJ said smugly. He was still going slower than average, but he was doing it on his own. They had made it about halfway around without Cyrus needing any assistance. Andi and Amber waved at them from across the rink and TJ waved back. Cyrus attempted to, but the movement caused him to wobble again, so he lost concentration on his friends and refocused on finding his balance.

Cyrus was giddy once he realized they had made it all the way around the rink and he had managed by himself. TJ was feeling pretty proud of him as well. It hadn’t taken all that long for him to get the hang of it. Just then, a couple of older teens came zooming past, and one of them brushed Cyrus as he went. Cyrus yelped, and his arms started to flail again as he lost his balance. TJ shot an arm out and Cyrus grasped onto it like it was a lifeline.

“I hate when people do that,” Cyrus grumbled, glaring at the backs of the teens.

“Yeah, it’s pretty rude,” TJ agreed. Cyrus had released his death grip, but still had one arm wrapped around TJ’s as he tried to find his balance again. It was taking him longer this time, and TJ wondered if it was because the close call had shaken his confidence. He shifted his arm slightly, and unwound it from Cyrus’, choosing to grab his hand instead. That way Cyrus had more mobility with his arm, but a steady base all the time.

He glanced over at the other boy and had to smile gently at the look of intense concentration on his face as he tried to get back into his rhythm. A stray thought drifted through TJ’s mind; Cyrus looked really cute with his face scrunched up and his cheeks pink from the cold. Normally TJ tried to push those thoughts to the back of his mind, but here he was, skating with Cyrus while they held hands. It was a very ‘date’ type of situation, and it was harder to ignore the intrusive thoughts that cropped up sometimes.

He turned his face forward again as Cyrus looked up and hoped that if his own cheeks looked red that Cyrus would assume it was from the weather and not his slight blush. He needed to be more careful; he didn’t want to scare Cyrus away, especially now. They were just two friends, spending time together with their other friends. And he was just being a good friend who was helping another friend ice skate.

“Feeling better?” TJ asked him, sensing that his balance was back.

“Yeah, I think I’m good now,” Cyrus said, casting an eye around the rink for the teens that had thrown him off. “As long as no one almost runs into me again.”

He was still holding TJ’s hand though, and TJ didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to pull his hand away and seem rude, but he also didn’t want to seem weird if he kept holding on if Cyrus didn’t need it any longer. He decided to compromise by holding it loosely. That way, Cyrus could let go easily if he wanted, or he could grab it more tightly if he needed to. But Cyrus did neither, and they continued to skate, hand-in-hand. TJ tried to tell himself that it was because Cyrus wanted some kind of sense of support readily available, but he couldn’t help but feel hyperaware of the other boy’s hand in his own, despite the layers of mittens between them.

After a few more loops around the rink, Cyrus announced that he was ready for a break. Considering the fact that he didn’t normally partake in athletic activities, TJ wasn’t surprised that he was tired already. They started making their way to the edge of the rink where the benches were. As they approached it, Cyrus started gripping TJ’s hand more tightly. TJ was pretty sure he was feeling anxious about getting off the ice easily, so he started to pull ahead slightly, intending to get off first so he could help Cyrus.

Before he could reach the edge though, someone skated past too closely again, and brushed into Cyrus rather firmly, knocking the boy off balance. Cyrus yelped in surprise and TJ managed to get one arm around him, but could tell that he wasn’t in a good position to support all his weight. Before Cyrus could completely wipe out though, he was suddenly pushed into an upright position as Buffy slid in right behind him.

“Gotcha,” she said, grabbing Cyrus’ other arm, and between her and TJ, they managed to get him off the ice.

“Someone at this rink is determined to kill me,” Cyrus declared dramatically.

“Or people are just really inconsiderate skaters,” Buffy said, rolling her eyes. “There’s a group of guys here that keep sideswiping people. I’ve seen a couple of kids that have been knocked over by them.”

“Buffy, I was skating!” Cyrus said excitedly, suddenly switching gears. “By myself!”

“I saw you,” she smiled widely at her. “Miracles do happen.”

“Hey!”

“I beat Marty in our race. Both times,” she said, ignoring Cyrus’ indignant cry. “He’s going to say otherwise, but I was totally ahead of him.”

Cyrus rolled his eyes good-naturedly, grinning at TJ who smiled back. He was sure they would be hearing the argument for the rest of the afternoon, but he couldn’t find himself caring too much. He also realized that his arm was still around Cyrus, and he gently detangled himself from the other boy, trying not to be too obvious about it.

“Do you guys want hot chocolate?” Buffy asked. “Andi and Amber went to get in line.”

“Yes!” Cyrus exclaimed. “Is that even a question?”

“Sure,” TJ said, when Buffy gave him a questioning look.

“Hot chocolate?” came a voice behind them and they turned to see Jonah and Marty coming off the ice towards them.

“I’m going to get in line with them, so I can help them carry it,” Buffy announced, heading in the direction of the concession stand. “You guys go find us a place to sit.”

“Mini marshmallows!” Cyrus called after her to which she replied,

“Obviously.”

The four boys started to make their way to the benches and they found an empty one that looked like it would fit their whole group. Once there, Jonah started unlacing his skates, stating that he needed to use the bathroom. Marty did the same, and the two headed off in the direction of the park restrooms. TJ and Cyrus were left alone, and TJ suddenly found himself feeling nervous for some reason. He had just spent the entire afternoon with Cyrus, so it made no sense that he would feel odd now.

Cyrus, however, was oblivious to this. He stretched his legs up onto the bench, groaning slightly.

“I’m going to be so sore tomorrow, aren’t I?”

“That’s what happens when you exercise,” TJ teased him. Cyrus stuck out his tongue at TJ who just laughed in return. Cyrus started stretching out his legs which looked somewhat uncomfortable to do with skates on. As he was doing that, the girls showed up with hot chocolate in hand. Buffy was balancing three carefully and TJ jumped up to grab the middle one from her. Cyrus carefully swung his legs forward to open up room on the bench.

“Where did the other two go?” Andi asked, carefully setting the two cups she was holding onto the bench.

“Bathroom,” Cyrus answered, eagerly taking his cup from Buffy. “Mini marshmallows!” he cheered again.

“Thanks for getting the bench wet,” Buffy said, swatting him with her free hand. The ice from his skates had indeed melted onto the bench, leaving puddles everywhere.

“Oops,” he said sheepishly, and the girls settled onto the bench across from them instead. Jonah and Marty came bounding back to the group soon after, and everyone tucked into their hot chocolate. TJ couldn’t help glancing over at Cyrus from time to time. He was eagerly sipping on his drink and soon had a stripe of white across his upper lip from the melted marshmallows in his cup. He licked it off after a teasing comment from Buffy and TJ hastily refocused his attention back on his own drink so no one would see him staring.

Before everyone split to go back to skating, Amber told them to cough up payment for the hot chocolates and everyone dug out their wallets and handed her a couple of bucks. Then in pairs, they started heading back onto the ice. Cyrus heaved a deep sigh while looking at the ice.

“Still want to go again?” TJ asked him.

“Surprisingly, yes,” Cyrus said. “I’m sure my body will hate me for it tomorrow, but I’ve been having a lot of fun. Minus the near collisions, of course.”

“I think those guys left actually,” TJ said. “I saw some parents yelling at them because they were knocking over little kids, so you shouldn’t have to worry about them anymore.”

“Nice!” Cyrus said jumping up and almost falling over because he forgot he was wearing skates. “Whoa!”

TJ laughed and stood up more carefully. “C’mon daredevil, let’s hit the ice.”

This time, Cyrus was able to make his way onto the ice by himself, shakily but without falling. TJ slipped onto the ice next to him and they started skating forward. Cyrus seemed more confident this time around and was handling himself better on the ice. There was a tiny part of TJ that was disappointed that there wasn’t an excuse for them to hold hands, but he supposed that it was a good thing that Cyrus was improving his skills. With a slight jolt, he suddenly remembered the whole point of ice skating. It was on Cyrus’ list of things he couldn’t do; that’s why he had been planning on going ice skating with the other boy in the first place. The combination of having the activity planned by someone else and the hand-holding had completely driven that from his mind.

Well, it had worked, he supposed. Cyrus might not be breaking any speed records any time soon, but he was able to skate on his own, and that was the whole point. He knew it was selfish of him to be disappointed that he didn’t have an excuse to hold Cyrus’ hand, but that had been really nice. Cyrus had now started talking about the best hot chocolate toppings, and TJ tried to focus his attention on that. He knew how Cyrus could get when he got onto a topic he was passionate about, and this one he seemed to have a lot of opinions on.

The hot chocolate conversation helped them pass the time (Cyrus was adamant on marshmallows, while TJ insisted that dropping a Hershey kiss in and letting it melt was the best) and they looped the rink several times. At one point, Buffy skated past them and told them they were planning on wrapping things up and leaving in ten minutes. TJ couldn’t help feel slightly disappointed at this; he had been having such a good time. But his extremities were pretty cold at this point, and his feet were starting to get a little sore. So he figured one more lap around the rink and then they would head off to turn their skates back in.

 He told Cyrus his thoughts, and the other boy agreed. Then he saw a look come over Cyrus’ face; it was almost a competitive one, which was odd because it wasn’t an expression he saw from Cyrus very often.

“You can skate fast, right?” he asked.

“Kind of,” TJ agreed. “I’m not going to be beating Buffy or anything, but I can go somewhat fast.”

“I want to go fast,” Cyrus said. “But if I try on my own, I’ll probably die. Do you think you could skate really fast and pull me with you?”

TJ stared at him for a moment in surprise before laughing. It was the last thing he would have ever expected Cyrus to suggest, but it also sounded like a lot of fun.

“I can try,” he said. “Think you can keep up?”

“Hopefully, or this is going to end badly,” Cyrus said cheerfully. He extended his hand and TJ took it with a soft smile. It felt right, holding hands again, and he hadn’t realized that he had missed it so much.

Scanning ahead of them, he judged the best route to go without running into anyone. He glanced at Cyrus who had a determined look on his face.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Ready.”

He started off slowly, making sure that Cyrus was able to comfortably match his pace before he started speeding up. He could tell when he was going faster because he started to feel more like he was pulling Cyrus, rather than just holding his hand. However, Cyrus was matching his pace as best as he could, and he could hear the other boy laughing in delight behind him. They were soon zooming around the rink, and TJ couldn’t remember the last time he did something so fun.

As they reached their original starting point, TJ started to slow down, bringing Cyrus with him. However, he realized almost too late that he had never really taught Cyrus to stop, and sure enough, the other boy slid past him, only stopped by TJ’s hand holding onto his.

“Whoa!” Cyrus cried as his body started to turn towards TJ’s from the pull of TJ’s hand. His feet scrambled against the ice as he tried to stop himself and he started to slip backwards. TJ quickly grabbed Cyrus’ other hand and managed to straighten the other boy out. Cyrus’ face was red from exertion and the cold air, but he was laughing, and his eyes were sparkling with excitement. They were face to face, holding hands, and TJ felt his heart skip a beat. Before he could do or say anything though, he heard Buffy shout somewhere behind them:

“Time to go!”

Cyrus smiled at the sound of his best friend and started to skate towards the exit. TJ let go of one of his hands as he followed Cyrus. Everyone else from the group was skating in as well, and they were laughing and joking around as they got their skates off and shoes back on. Cyrus let out an extremely dramatic groan as he pulled off his first skate. TJ laughed along with everyone else and had to flex his own sore feet.

As he headed home afterwards, he couldn’t help but reflect on the moment that had occurred between himself and Cyrus. Had he imagined it as a moment, or had it been something real? Cyrus had spent most of the afternoon holding his hand and apparently having no issue with it. In fact, the two of them had spent most of the afternoon alone, as they hadn’t really done a ton of skating with the others. TJ wanted to think that it meant something, but at the same time he didn’t want to get his hopes up. He ultimately decided that he would continue to try and check things off the list, but he would do his best to keep his feelings in check. He valued his friendship with Cyrus too much to mess it up over whatever his feelings were towards the other boy. Unless Cyrus indicated something otherwise, he would focus on the list and not on the fact that the list kept giving him opportunities to spend more time with Cyrus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for all the feedback!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little different because I decided to have them do a non-list activity, but the list will continue in future chapters.

After ice skating, TJ wasn’t sure which of the things on the list to do next. A lot of them were outdoor type of activities: skateboarding, fishing, and climbing a tree for example. He knew that logically, he would have to wait until spring and summer to be able to do a lot of the activities with Cyrus, which made him feel disappointed. Not only was it fun to be able to help Cyrus achieve these milestones, but it gave him an excuse to hang out with the other boy. So, when Cyrus texted him about another group activity, he jumped at the opportunity.

Laser tag wasn’t on the list, so TJ had no idea what Cyrus’ ability level was for the game. He was pretty good at it himself, but he hadn’t been able to go in awhile since his other group of friends had essentially ditched him after the gun incident. He appreciated that he was being accepted into Cyrus’ friend group, since he really didn’t have anyone else to hang out with. Despite his initial animosity with Buffy, he found that he really enjoyed spending time with everyone in their group, and he even felt that he connected better with them than with the people he used to hang out with. There was no pressure to be cool or to act a certain way; everyone was just authentically themselves, which was a refreshing change.

He met the group at the laser tag arcade on a chilly Saturday morning, and they soon moved to the inside of the building to wait for everyone else to get there. Apparently, a few of them (meaning Buffy, Cyrus, and Andi) had been discussing it ahead of time, and they had decided to play in teams against one another, which TJ was fine with. They were still waiting for Amber to show up, and a friend that she was bringing.

“Okay, here are the teams,” Buffy announced. “After careful deliberation and very specific planning, we have divided the group up.”

“And?” Marty asked.

“Boys versus girls!” she declared.

“Sounds good,” Jonah said with an agreeable smile.

“Are you ready to lose?” TJ challenged her with a smile. Buffy’s eyes narrowed into a familiar competitive glare.

“Not going to happen today,” she shot back. But before any of the guys could retaliate, Amber came bounding up to the group with a short girl in tow.

“We’re here and ready to kick some butt!” she declared. Her friend grinned widely; she had long brown hair and a sweet smile. TJ didn’t recognize her, but nobody else seemed to question her presence. He figured he could just ask one of the guys later so he wouldn’t sound rude.

The group approached the counter and paid for their entrance before heading over to get suited up for the game.

“All right guys, we got this,” Marty said confidently as he strapped his vest on. “Buffy may be good, but we’ve got more athletic people on our team than she does.”

“Yeah, but Andi can be surprisingly good at sports when she wants to be, and Amber is just plain ruthless,” Cyrus countered. “Plus, I’m on this team, so sorry in advance.”

Jonah just laughed. “Don’t worry, Cy-guy, we’ll cover you. Plus, you and Iris will probably be at the same level which makes it equal.”

Cyrus just shrugged. “Let’s be real, she’s probably better than me too.” The guys laughed at his comment before Jonah said,

“Is it going to be awkward with her here?”

“No,” Cyrus said, shaking his head. “We’re all good.”

“Why would it be awkward?” TJ asked, curious about how they knew this mystery girl.

“She and Cyrus used to date,” Jonah explained. “They broke up a while ago.”

“If she still wanted to go on a date with me after I barfed in front of her, I don’t think a game of laser tag is going to be a problem,” Cyrus countered, his voice muffled as he attempted to get his vest over his head.

TJ reached over and helped him pull the vest down the correct way. Cyrus’ head popped out, hair sticking up in every direction from his struggle. He grinned widely at TJ in thanks before getting the vest situated. TJ smiled back but his mind was a million miles away. Cyrus had dated that girl? He had no idea that Cyrus had ever dated anyone. A funny feeling had settled in the pit of his stomach, but he did his best to ignore it. This wasn’t the time or place to be worrying about that.

The boys headed out to the arcade to find the girls ready and waiting. They waited for the all clear before the buzzer sounded and they ran out into the maze. TJ found himself getting into the mood of the game and was able to push his earlier thoughts to the back of his mind for the time being. He felt his competitive nature coming to the surface and he crept carefully around the room, looking for one of the girls. He was peering around a corner when a beeping noise from his vest alerted him. He had been hit. Turning in surprise, he saw Buffy cackle with laughter before sprinting off around another corner. Cursing his luck, he turned and took off in the direction that she had run.

The game became quite fast-paced and TJ soon found that he had worked up a sweat. He had gotten a few hits in on the girls, but had yet to find Buffy again, who probably had taken out quite a few of their points. He also had only seen his own teammates a few times, as he was pretty sure Marty was solely focused on hunting down Buffy.

He was approaching another corner when he heard familiar voices up ahead.

“No, c’mon Andi!” Cyrus was complaining.

“Sorry, but I gotta play the game!” the girl replied cheerfully. TJ peered around the corner to see Cyrus corner by Andi, his arms crossed protectively over his chest. Carefully, TJ raised his gun and aimed at Andi’s back.

“Hey!” she shouted as her vest lit up. Cyrus saw TJ and made a break for it, dashing past Andi and around the corner next to TJ.

“Thanks for that!” he panted, hands on knees as he attempted to catch his breath.

“Always glad to help,” TJ said with smile, motioning for Cyrus to head in the opposite direction. Andi would likely be out for their blood soon, and he wanted to get away as quickly as possible. The two boys headed down and turned left at the path.

“Hit anyone yet?” TJ asked in an undertone as they jogged.

“I got Amber once, but it was on accident,” Cyrus admitted sheepishly.

“Still counts,” TJ grinned.

“I’m surprised I’m not out yet,” Cyrus said, looking down at his vest. “Buffy got me like three times already, and all the other girls have hit me at least once. Apparently, I’m an easy target.”

“But you’re not out yet,” TJ encouraged him. “Buffy got me too. I think she’s planning on winning this game by herself.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Cyrus joked. “She took out an entire birthday party of eight year old boys by herself once.”

TJ cracked up at the mental image that provided, but he absolutely believed that it had happened. “We’re not winning this game, are we?” he asked.

“Are you admitted defeat?” Cyrus asked in mock surprise.

“Buffy didn’t hear me say that,” TJ countered. “I’m in this until my dying breath. But I can see that the odds are clearly stacked against us.”

They paused, having come to a dead end. TJ turned back to go the way they came, gesturing for Cyrus to follow him. They could hear shouts and lasers firing, but it seemed like they were somewhat separate from the rest of the group. Still, TJ was on his guard. The last thing they needed was to be surprised by a sneak attack.

“So,” he said before he could help himself. “That friend of Amber’s. Jonah said you dated her?”

He didn’t know why he was bringing this up, or why he even cared about it. Well, he knew why he cared, but he could have ignored it. But now he was forcing the topic; clearly he just wanted to torture himself.

“Iris?” Cyrus said in surprise. “Oh yeah, we dated for a little bit last year. It didn’t last very long though.”

“Why not?” TJ asked, keeping his gaze forward, not allowing himself to look back at Cyrus.

“I mean, she’s really nice and we have a ton in common,” Cyrus said. “But I kind of realized that I didn’t have romantic feelings for her. I liked her as a friend, but that was all.”

“If you weren’t attracted to her, why did you date her then?” TJ asked, ignoring the small fluttering of hope that passed through him at Cyrus’ response.

“I felt like I was supposed to?” Cyrus mused slowly. “Nobody had ever liked me before. And she was nice. So, I thought that I should go on a date with her, because everyone kept saying I should. And I liked hanging out with her. But…” he trailed off, and TJ risked a glance back at him. Cyrus was looking at the ground and toying with his gun. TJ couldn’t read the expression on the other boy’s face.

“I don’t know,” he finally said. “I feel kind of like I was leading her on, even though that’s not what I meant to do. But it just wasn’t meant to be between us.” He glanced up and met TJ’s expression. For a moment, TJ had the feeling that Cyrus was going to say something else to him. But before that could happen, there was a sudden cacophony of yells that erupted in front of them and both boys jumped in surprise as Amber and Buffy rounded the corner, guns blazing. Before either of the boys could get their guns up or defend themselves, the girls had hit both of them several times. Then they were gone, shouting victoriously.

TJ heaved a deep sigh and shook his head. He wasn’t really annoyed though; he had stopped paying attention and they had been able to sneak up. The competitive part of him wanted him to go chasing after them and pay them back, but his heart wasn’t into it. He glanced over at Cyrus who was standing there with a slightly surprised look on his face.

“Well,” he said. “That just happened.”

TJ chuckled and gestured for them to start moving again. He was fairly certain they weren’t going to win at this point, but he figured they should at least attempt to help their team out a little bit. Part of him wanted to go back to their conversation, but he had a feeling that the moment had been ruined. Cyrus didn’t seem willing to reengage in the conversation, and he didn’t want to push it. Trying to get his mind back on the game, he started walking closer to the wall and led the way back into the fray.

At the end of the game, it became fairly evident that the girls had smoked the guys’ team. TJ found that he didn’t really care that much. Cyrus clearly didn’t either, but he hadn’t apparently been expecting to win at all. Marty and Jonah were a little more disappointed, Marty especially so, but it was likely because Buffy was gloating over the win. They turned their equipment back in, and someone suggested that they go to the Spoon for a snack.

Once at the restaurant, they attempted to fit their group around two tables that they shoved together. Amber complained a bit, but since she wasn’t working that shift, she didn’t seem to actually care that much about how they were messing up the seating arrangements. TJ found himself in a chair that was squished up next to Cyrus. Buffy was on his other side, but she was on the other side of the table. The waiter came over and took their orders, and the banter about the result of the game continued. TJ was content with listening to Buffy and Marty go back and forth about it (as they were the only ones who really still cared) and he tried not to focus on how Cyrus’ arm was pressed against his own.

Cyrus was unusually quiet, he realized, and while the other boy was smiling at the wise-cracks that the two arguing were making, he wasn’t joking around like he normally was. TJ couldn’t help but wonder what was wrong. Cyrus had been his normal chipper self earlier in the day, but now he seemed more withdrawn. He couldn’t help but wonder if their earlier conversation had something to do with it. As far as he had seen, Cyrus hadn’t really interacted much with Iris after the game, so he didn’t think that it had anything to do with her. The girl in question was talking animatedly with Amber and didn’t seem to be part of the problem.

Later after everyone had finished up eating, they started breaking off by twos and threes to head in separate directions. TJ wanted to talk with Cyrus, but Buffy and Andi had corralled him, as they apparently had planned on hanging out together. So, instead TJ fist bumped Cyrus and told him goodbye. Cyrus gave him a wide smile that was more like his old self, but he still seemed to be in his odd mood. TJ noticed Buffy giving Cyrus a side-eye look, and he wondered if she had picked up on it too. He figured that if anyone could figure it out, it would be her, so he headed home with the events of the day bouncing around in his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it's not clear, I have never played laser tag in my life.


	8. Chapter 8

Things I Can’t Do:

  * _~~Somersault~~_
  * _Cartwheel_
  * _All other gymnastics, really_
  * _~~Ice skate~~_
  * _Roller blade_
  * _Skateboard (tried and failed)_
  * _~~Ride electric bike~~_
  * _~~Rock climb~~_
  * _~~Bowl a strike without bumpers~~_
  * _Hit a baseball_
  * _~~Make a basket~~_
  * _SPORTS_
  * _Climb a tree_
  * _~~Monkey bars~~_
  * _Cannonball_
  * _Diving_
  * _Catch a fish_



Winter finally melted away into spring, which TJ was grateful for. While he enjoyed parts of winter, and he was a little sad that basketball season was ending, he also was sick of endless cold and wanted to be able to spend time outside without freezing. Plus, there were still a number of things on Cyrus’ list that he wanted to start working on that they wouldn’t be able to do in winter. A couple of them were definitely more summertime activities (especially all the water-based ones) but there were some that they would be able to get around to now that it was nice outside.

He was hanging out at Cyrus’ house one afternoon after school when the opportunity for another activity arose. They had grabbed a snack before heading up to Cyrus’ room to work on homework. TJ couldn’t help stealing glances outside though; the sun was shining, and it was relatively warm out. He wanted nothing more than to go spend some time outside, but he knew that if he didn’t get his homework finished now, it would never happen. Plus, Cyrus was a stickler about getting him homework done right after school, so he didn’t have to worry about it later, so he knew there was no chance of convincing the other boy of going outside until it was done. At least he was done with his math. It would have been a lot harder to concentrate if that was the subject he needed to work on. He just had to finish up some reading for his social studies class, and he would be done.

After about twenty minutes of quiet work, TJ finished up and glanced over at Cyrus. The boy was lounging on his bed, looking at something on his phone. TJ was surprised that he had apparently been done with his homework already and didn’t say anything.

“Let’s do something,” TJ announced, causing Cyrus to look up in surprise.

“Like what?” he asked, setting his phone down. TJ jumped up and started towards the door.

“I don’t know,” he said. “But I want to go outside. I need some fresh air.”

Cyrus groaned dramatically, making TJ roll his eyes and double back into the room. He grabbed Cyrus by the wrists and hauled the other boy to his feet.

“Fresh air is good for you,” he said, moving behind Cyrus to push him in the direction of the door. “You’ve been inside all winter.”

“It’s gonna be muddy outside,” Cyrus complained half-heartedly, but allowed TJ to propel him out the door and down the stairs.

“You will live,” TJ promised him.

Once they were out on the front porch, TJ deliberated for a moment before jumping down the front steps and heading in the direction of the backyard. Cyrus followed him, making faces at the muddy ground under foot. TJ realized that he had never actually been in Cyrus’ backyard before. Most of the times that he had been over at Cyrus’ house, it was either later at night or too cold to go outside. There were a decent number of trees, as well as a picnic table and a small shed. No jungle gym or play equipment. TJ didn’t know if that was because they had gotten rid of it as Cyrus got older, or if he never had any, given his aversion to outdoors stuff.

“What are you planning on doing?” Cyrus asked.

“Don’t know,” TJ answered. “What did you play with when you were younger?”

“I went to the park or to Buffy’s house,” he answered. “We did a lot of indoor stuff at my house or Andi’s.”

“Hmm,” TJ mused, glancing around the yard. He had a feeling that there weren’t going to be any balls or other play stuff in the garage, so he was going to having to improvise. His gaze fell on a tree with low-hanging but sturdy looking branches. He bounded over to it and glanced upwards into the tree. A lot of the branches extended out instead of straight up, and they looked like they would support his weight. He placed his foot on one of the lowest ones and hoisted himself up.

“What are you doing?” Cyrus asked below him, sounding slightly concerned. TJ looked back at him and grinned. Cyrus had an apprehensive look on his face, and TJ wondered if it was because Cyrus was starting to catch onto the fact that TJ was making him try things that he was scared to.

“Climbing this tree,” TJ responded. “C’mon.”

“I can’t climb trees,” Cyrus protested. “It’s an accident waiting to happen.”

“You climbed a rock wall. This is way shorter,” TJ said, continuing to move up the tree. There was a branch higher up that looked like it would make a decent seat. He glanced back down and saw Cyrus standing in the exact same position. However, his gaze was moving up the branches as though he was calculating the best route. TJ made his way back down, stopping a few branches from the bottom.

“Follow my lead,” he instructed. “Step on that one and grab onto the other branches that are right above your head.”

Cyrus gave him a look that clearly indicated that he thought TJ was crazy. But despite the look, he tentatively placed his foot on the branch and grabbed hold of two branches. He pulled himself up, and looked surprised to find himself standing in the tree.

“Just keep going up,” TJ encouraged him. “There are tons of handholds and places to step. Just don’t look down.”

Cyrus immediately shut his eyes. “Don’t you know that you’re not supposed to tell people that when they’re up high and afraid of heights? Everyone looks down automatically.”

“You’re only five feet up,” TJ laughed. “It’s not that high.”

“Don’t make fun of my vertigo!” Cyrus said, opening his eyes and sticking his tongue out at TJ. The other boy just replied with a cheeky grin and started to push himself up onto the next branch, making sure to keep an eye on Cyrus. He was definitely taking his time, but he was slowly making his way up the tree. TJ found the branch he had been eyeing before and settled himself on it. It did make for a pretty comfy seat, and he focused his attention back on Cyrus.

He had come to a stop and he was looking up at a branch that was near TJ’s. It was clear that he was aiming to sit on that one, but he didn’t know how to get there.

“Try stepping on that one,” TJ suggested, pointing at one that was just below the one Cyrus was looking at. With a look of determination, the other boy placed his foot on it and hoisted himself up. However, he hadn’t planned out a handhold and flailed widely for a second. TJ felt his heart skip a beat as he realized that Cyrus was really losing his balance and he reached out and managed to grab the boy’s hand to steady him.

“I’m falling,” Cyrus whispered.

“No, you’re not,” TJ said back, trying to slow his racing heart. Cyrus’ grip on his hand was extremely tight, and he could feel the other boy shaking slightly. His eyes were squeezed tight again, and he was pale. “Open your eyes.”

Cyrus did so reluctantly.

“See the branch right above you?” TJ said. Cyrus looked up and nodded. “I want you to let go of my hand and grab that one.”

“It’s pretty high up,” Cyrus said, not even budging his grip.

“You can reach,” TJ said trying to instill confidence that he wasn’t feeling. Suddenly his plan felt stupid. What if he was pushing Cyrus into something that actually got him hurt? Tree climbing didn’t seem that risky at first, mostly because he had done it himself so many times without issue. But he knew people had broken bones falling out of trees because they slipped. He would never forgive himself if he got Cyrus hurt somehow.

But then Cyrus was letting go of his hand and swinging it up. He grasped the branch above him and pulled himself up. In one fluid motion, he swung himself up and twisted so that he was seated on the branch he had been aiming for.

“I did it?!” he said, looking shocked to find himself sitting on the branch.

“You did it!” TJ cheered, hoping his own nerves weren’t evident on his face. “Where did that move come from, Spiderman?”

Cyrus flushed slightly at the nickname. “No idea. I just really wanted to be sitting and I figured if I did it quickly, I would either be up on the branch or down on the ground. Either way, it was better than just hanging there, not going anywhere.”

TJ laughed but was still feeling somewhat guilty. Cyrus may have been able to joke about falling, but he knew he would have felt horrible if the boy had actually fallen. There was no way he would have made it to the ground without getting really hurt. Apparently, his worry wasn’t as well hidden as he thought, because Cyrus was now peering at him in concern.

“Were you worried?” he asked in surprise.

“I just didn’t want you to get hurt,” TJ said, trying to arrange his face into a neutral expression.

“It would hardly be the first time,” Cyrus said, half laughing. “I’ve hurt myself in lots of creative ways before. Mostly doing ordinary things that other people don’t have trouble doing.”

“Yeah, but I made you climb up here,” TJ said, the guilt still niggling at him.

“Trust me, if I really didn’t want to try, I would be on the ground right now,” Cyrus said. “The only way you would have gotten me up here would have been if you carried me up.”

“Okay,” TJ said. “I just don’t want to push you into doing something that you can’t handle.”

“It’s fine,” Cyrus told him with a gentle smile on his face. “Sometimes I need people to push me out of my comfort zone. I know what my limits are.”

“You said you couldn’t climb a tree though,” TJ said. “Wouldn’t that be a limit?”

“I mean, I’ve tried climbing a tree before,” Cyrus said. “I am best friends with Buffy. She pushes me to try a lot of stuff. But since it’s Buffy, she’s the one at the top of the tree while I’m okay with sitting on one of the bottom branches. I can _kind of_ do a lot of things. I’m just not that great at them. So, if I joke about how I’m super terrible at something, everyone is expecting me to fail at it. Make fun of yourself before anyone else can, right?”

TJ was silent for a few moments as he took in what Cyrus said. He looked over at the other boy who is carefully studying the leaves on the branches in front of him instead of making eye contact.

“You know I’m not going to make fun of you for anything,” TJ said softly.

“I know,” Cyrus said, finally looking over at him. “I’m just used to doing it. Plus, you’re really good at a lot of things. Athletic things and all that. You and Buffy are really similar in that sense.”

TJ snorts at the comparison.

“You are!” Cyrus insisted. “I think that’s why you didn’t get along very well at first. You’re too similar. Both of you put 100% into everything you do, and you’re really good at it. Which is great. But I’m never going to be at your level, so it’s easier to not even try sometimes.”

“You shouldn’t compare yourself to other people,” TJ said.

“Everyone always says that, but everyone still does it,” Cyrus replied. “I know what my weaknesses are, and it’s just easier to joke about them than to try stuff that’s going to highlight how bad I am at doing things that should be easy.”

“If anyone makes fun of you, let me know,” TJ said. “I’ll make sure they don’t.”

Cyrus raised an eyebrow at him but a hint of a smile played across his lips. “I thought you were done with the bully thing.”

“I am!” TJ protested. “But I don’t let people make fun of my friends.”

“I don’t want you going around and beating people up,” Cyrus said.

“I’ve never beaten anyone up,” TJ said, pretending to be offended. “I wasn’t _that_ bad.”

“I know,” Cyrus said.

The two boys lapsed into silence for a few minutes. Cyrus was looking around, clearly taking in the view from above. TJ couldn’t help but replay their conversation in his head. He could understand what Cyrus was saying. It was easier to make fun of yourself first before someone else did it. But Cyrus seemed to be doing it all the time. It made TJ upset that the other boy apparently felt the need to do so.

“So, not to ruin the mood, but we have a slight problem,” Cyrus announced suddenly.

“What’s wrong?” TJ asked, snapping back to attention.

“You got me up here,” Cyrus said. “Now you have to get me down somehow.”

“We go back down the same way we came up,” TJ said, slightly confused.

Cyrus merely raised an eyebrow. “Do you really think I can climb _down_ a tree? I don’t like heights.”

 “Well, I guess you’re sleeping up here tonight then,” TJ said, starting to slide down to get his feet onto a branch.

“TJ!” Cyrus protested.

“I’m not carrying you!” TJ said, sending a grin up at Cyrus. The other boy looked slightly worried for a second before narrowing his eyes at TJ.

“I’ll tell Buffy you stranded me in a tree,” he threatened.

TJ groaned theatrically, causing Cyrus to laugh.

“Move your foot down to that branch,” he said pointing. Step by step, he instructed Cyrus on climbing down out of the tree, making sure to stay just one step behind the boy in case he slipped again. Soon he jumped down to the ground and reached out to balance Cyrus as he did the same.

“Whoa,” Cyrus said, once both his feet were on solid ground again. “I can’t believe I did that!”

“Congratulations,” TJ said, with a gentle smile to show that he wasn’t teasing.

Cyrus smiled back before a crafty look crossed his face.

“Race you back!” he shouted, taking off in the direction of his house.

“Hey!” TJ protested, starting to run too. Halfway there, Cyrus tripped over his own feet and almost fell, but managed to catch himself just in time. However, his stumble allowed TJ to pass him up and make it to the driveway first.

“Victory!” he cheered, running around the driveway in circles.

“I did that on purpose,” Cyrus said. “Didn’t want to make you feel bad for losing to me.”

“Sure, sure,” TJ teased. “C’mon, let’s go inside. I think you earned it.”

“Yay!” Cyrus cheered. “The safe indoors!”

TJ couldn’t help laughing as he watched the other boy race up the porch, and he followed him into the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the feedback! I love reading the comments and hearing that people are enjoying the story! I'm having tons of fun writing it :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full disclaimer: The skateboarding that Cyrus actually did on the show is miles better than anything I could ever do on a skateboard. The further I get into writing this story, the more I realize that Cyrus' list is pretty close to the list of things that I can't do either.

Things I Can’t Do:

  * _~~Somersault~~_
  * _Cartwheel_
  * _All other gymnastics, really_
  * _~~Ice skate~~_
  * _Roller blade_
  * _Skateboard (tried and failed)_
  * _~~Ride electric bike~~_
  * _~~Rock climb~~_
  * _~~Bowl a strike without bumpers~~_
  * _Hit a baseball_
  * _~~Make a basket~~_
  * _SPORTS_
  * _~~Climb a tree~~_
  * _~~Monkey bars~~_
  * _Cannonball_
  * _Diving_
  * _Catch a fish_



A week or two later, TJ invited Cyrus to hang out with him on the weekend. He had slightly ulterior motives but didn’t voice them to Cyrus. The other boy agreed enthusiastically, and they ended up meeting at the park. TJ got there early and was practicing some tricks on his skateboard in the parking lot when Cyrus showed up.

He only realized that Cyrus was there when he heard clapping coming from behind him after he successfully completed a kickflip. TJ turned with a grin to see Cyrus standing on the edge of the lot, looking impressed.

“Nice…flip thing,” Cyrus said, gesturing vaguely at the skateboard.

“Kickflip,” TJ said, unable to keep the smile off his face. “Thanks! Want a turn?”

The look of horror that crossed Cyrus’ face made him burst out laughing.

“No way!” Cyrus protested. “The last time I stepped onto skateboard, it did not end well for me at all.”

“What happened?” TJ asked curiously, remembering the note _tried and failed_ next to the item on the list.

“I broke my arm,” Cyrus said. TJ’s mouth dropped open in surprise. A broken arm? It must have happened before he met Cyrus, because he would have definitely remembered that.

“Well…” Cyrus said, a sheepish look on his face. “Part of my arm.”

“What part?” TJ asked, feeling slightly suspicious at the casual tone.

“My thumb?” Cyrus said with a cheeky grin.

TJ raised one eyebrow at him.

“What? It still hurt! I needed a cast!” Cyrus protested. TJ just shook his head but couldn’t keep the grin off his face.

“How did that happen in the first place?” he asked.

“Jonah was trying to teach me how to ride a skateboard but he sort of forgot to teach me how to stop, and I may have crashed into some bushes.”

"He forgot to teach you how to stop?” TJ asked in disbelief.

“Well, yeah,” Cyrus said. TJ just gave him a look of disbelief. “What?”

“All you do to stop is put one foot on the ground,” he said.

“We both may have been panicking,” Cyrus admitted. “According to Buffy, the two of us are not allowed to collaborate on anything unless there is someone else supervising. There may have been other incidents.”

"Such as?” TJ prompted.

“Toothpaste on a wall,” Cyrus said. Seeing TJ’s expression of utter confusion, he waved his hand. “Long story. Not relevant. Anyways, me skateboarding is not a good idea.”

“You know that saying about getting back on the horse?” TJ teased him.

“But what if you aren’t able to get on the horse in the first place?” Cyrus asked. “Another long story.”

TJ just shook his head, smiled, and pulled his helmet off.

“Here,” he said, plopping it onto Cyrus’ head. “At least try it. I’ll make sure you don’t crash or break anything.”

“If you actually think I’ll be able to do that flip thing, you’re crazy,” Cyrus informed him, but began buckling the helmet under his chin anyways. TJ also started undoing his elbow and knee pads. After the near-fall in the tree the other week, coupled with the fact that Cyrus had actually gotten somewhat seriously injured skateboarding before, he was feeling a little more cautious about the activities he was having Cyrus try. He felt that they would be fairly safe here; the parking lot was deserted, and it was completely flat with no real obstacles. However, he felt the need to put as much protective gear as possible on Cyrus. The boy had shown the tendency to get injured in a surprising number of ways, and TJ knew he would have a hard time forgiving himself if something happened to Cyrus because of him.

“No crazy tricks today,” he assured the other boy. “We’ll just go through the basics. Starting _and_ stopping. Maybe some turns. Simple stuff.”

“Simple,” Cyrus said, shaking his head. “’Simple,’ he says.”

TJ just laughed and grabbed Cyrus by the shoulders, turning him to walk to the board.

“Show me what Jonah showed you, as far as stance goes.”

Cyrus stepped cautiously up onto the board and positioned himself. His form was good, TJ mused. A little shaky, but that was to be expected.

“Do you know how to push off?” he asked. Cyrus nodded. “Okay. I want to you push off and head towards that light pole,” he said, pointing to the object. “Once you get close, all you have to do is put one foot on the ground, and that will stop you. You’ll want to do it when you’re still a few feet from the pole, so you don’t crash into it. Got it?”

Cyrus nodded again, his expression serious. TJ clapped him supportively on the shoulder and took a step back. He was planning on following on foot, but he wanted to make sure that Cyrus didn’t feel crowded at the start. The other boy put one foot on the ground and started moving the skateboard forward. He only pushed once before putting his foot back up on the board. He coasted along for a little bit before the board started slowing. Before TJ could say anything, he pushed off again, getting his speed back up. TJ followed him from a distance, making sure that he was going at a safe speed. Cyrus wobbled a bit once or twice but was keeping his balance otherwise.

As they neared the pole, his foot came down abruptly and stopped the board. He lurched forward off the board but caught himself before he hit the ground. He spun, saw TJ coming up behind him and threw his hands in the air in celebration.

“I did it without breaking anything!” he cheered. TJ laughed at that.

“Congratulations!” he said. “Now do it again.”

Cyrus groaned, but readjusted the board, facing in the direction of where they came. TJ pointed to a light pole further into the parking lot and directed Cyrus towards it. They spent some more time with Cyrus getting the hang of starting and stopping on the board. TJ tried to show him how to make a turn, but it seemed that Cyrus’ balance level was not that high, and he accepted that it probably wouldn’t be happening and decided not to push it. He had managed to get Cyrus comfortable on the board, and that was more than enough.

Finally, Cyrus hopped off the board and started unbuckling the helmet.

“My legs are going to collapse,” he announced, handing TJ the helmet and started working on the pads. “Your turn.”

“My turn?” TJ asked in surprise.

“You brought your board here,” Cyrus said. “I thought you wanted to practice your tricks.”

‘Oh, yeah,” TJ said, forgetting that Cyrus didn’t know he was only doing it to help check it off the list.

“I’ll stop hogging it and let you do some,” the other boy explained. “Besides, I definitely need to sit down.”

“I don’t want you to get bored,” TJ explained, accepting his pads back from Cyrus.

“I won’t be bored!” Cyrus said. “Those tricks you can do are cool to watch! Plus, you just watched me skate back and forth between two light poles. _That_ had to have been boring. You can actually do awesome tricks!”

If he was being honest, he had quite enjoyed watching Cyrus skate. His facial expressions constantly alternated between terrified, concentrated, and elated, and it was really encouraging to see him slowly gain confidence in his ability as the afternoon went on. However, TJ wasn’t about to admit that out loud, so he accepted the pads and tried to think of different tricks to try out. He wasn’t a super dedicated skateboarder; it was more just something he did from time to time for fun. He knew there were people his age that were way more into it, and could do all sorts of cool tricks, especially at the skatepark with ramps and poles and everything. But he also knew that Cyrus wasn’t going to make fun of him if he messed up or judge him if he wasn’t able to anything beyond the basic tricks.

So, he launched into the tricks that he did know, and he would have never admitted it to anyone but having Cyrus watch him was equal parts nerve-wracking and exhilarating. The other boy was super encouraging and provided a running commentary as TJ tried out a few different flips and moves, and he never seemed to notice if TJ messed up or made a mistake. After a while though, he found that he was also getting tired, mostly because his body wasn’t used to doing the same tricks so often. He suggested they go grab a bite to eat, and Cyrus agreed enthusiastically.

They headed to the Spoon, with Cyrus talking animatedly about which of the tricks TJ did that he found the coolest. It was incredibly flattering, and TJ couldn’t help grinning somewhat abashedly as Cyrus sang his praises. He knew he wasn’t _that_ good at skateboarding, but the way Cyrus was talking, it felt as though he was the next Tony Hawk. As they walked, he found himself drawn closer to Cyrus, their arms brushing against one another. He longed to reach out and grab the other boy’s hand but knew that he couldn’t. Instead, he changed the subject, choosing to talk about a new movie that would be coming out soon. Cyrus latched onto that topic fairly easily, and that conversation carried them all the way to their booth and while they waited for their food.

That night, TJ opened the note on his phone and crossed off skateboarding. He was impressed with how much progress they had made on the list so far. He decided to neaten it up a bit, and deleted _SPORTS_ and _All other gymnastics, really._ Cyrus had two specific things listed for each category, and while TJ could help him with something like a somersault or shooting a basket, he knew Cyrus well enough to know that there was no way they would cover every sport, and that it was unlikely that Cyrus would ever become any sort of athlete. The same went for gymnastics. TJ couldn’t even do most gymnastics moves. A cartwheel was honestly about the extent of his abilities. Everything else on the list was a single activity though, and they would be able to accomplish those tasks.

He then flipped through the pictures on his phone. He had taken a few of Cyrus while he was skateboarding, and he sent the better ones in a text to the other boy. A few moments later, his phone buzzed in reply. Cyrus had sent a _thank you!!!_ and attached a few pictures of his own. To his surprise, Cyrus had taken some of TJ while he had been doing his tricks. They were pretty good too; Cyrus had a knack for capturing action shots, and TJ had to admit that he looked pretty cool in some of them. He sent back a _thanks too_ 😊 before pulling open his music app and letting a song wash over him. And if it was a song about having feelings for someone, well that was no one’s business but his own.


	10. Chapter 10

Things I Can’t Do:

  * _~~Somersault~~_
  * _Cartwheel_
  * _~~Ice skate~~_
  * _Roller blade_
  * _~~Skateboard (tried and failed)~~_
  * _~~Ride electric bike~~_
  * _~~Rock climb~~_
  * _~~Bowl a strike without bumpers~~_
  * _Hit a baseball_
  * _~~Make a basket~~_
  * _~~Climb a tree~~_
  * _~~Monkey bars~~_
  * _Cannonball_
  * _Diving_
  * _Catch a fish_



Spring seemed to fly by, and soon school was out, and summer was in full swing. TJ was a little annoyed with himself because he felt as though he was slacking in checking things off the list. Everything that was left was outdoorsy in nature (aside from the cartwheel), and there were only a few that would have to wait until summer. But he was having trouble coming up with ways to get Cyrus to do them without being obvious about it. He had no idea how to teach Cyrus how to hit a baseball without straight up telling him that’s what he was going to do. There hadn’t been any opportunities for him to casually show him how, since it wasn’t a sport that only two people could play, and Cyrus didn’t even have a normal gym class where he might be playing it. So, TJ pushed it to the back of the list, and decided to keep an eye out for a situation where he could do something with it.

With it being summer though, there were quite a few more items on the list that could be checked off. As June progressed, the weather grew warmer, to the point where it was sweltering, even in the shade. Buffy sent out a group text one day, suggesting that they meet up at the public pool to hang out. TJ accepted immediately. Not only would it be nice to meet up with everyone again and be able to do some kind of activity without feeling like he wanted to die, but there were a couple of list items that he could hopefully take care of.

When he got to the pool the next day, a few of the group were already there, and had set up some deck chairs where they were leaving their towels. TJ joined them, greeting Jonah with a fist bump. Amber was already stretched out on a chair, sunglasses on and earbuds in, clearly working on her tan. As TJ got his own stuff situated, he heard familiar voices behind him and turned to see Buffy, Andi, and Cyrus strolling towards them.

“This heat is the worst,” Buffy announced as she dumped her bag on the ground by the chairs. “I can’t do anything without getting drenched in sweat. And not in the fun way.” Without waiting for a reply, she quickly stripped off her outer clothing and headed straight for the water.

“Sunscreen!” Cyrus called out to her before she could jump. She gave an exaggerated groan, but turned and headed back over to the group.

“It’s easier to put on before you get wet,” Andi told her, pulling the bottle out of her own bag.

“I just wanna get in the water,” Buffy complained, but took the bottle and started to lather up.

“Have fun with skin cancer then,” TJ suggested. Buffy made a face at him but didn’t respond.

“Where’s Marty?” Jonah asked.

“On his way,” Buffy replied. “He couldn’t find his trunks apparently.”

As TJ had put sunscreen on before he left the house, he had nothing to do but wait as the others finished up. Jonah and Amber both had apparently done so already, but Amber was clearly not planning on going in the water anytime soon (and for all appearances, had no idea that everyone else had even arrived). Buffy finished up first and was soon in the water. Jonah followed her in, and TJ debated about whether he should go in or wait. Cyrus was helping Andi get her back where she couldn’t reach, and he hadn’t even taken his own shirt off yet.

“Bet I can dive better than TJ!” he suddenly heard Buffy shouting from the water. She was near the ladder and clearly intent on heading towards the diving boards. Unable to resist the challenge, TJ stood up, pulled his shirt over his head, and headed in her direction.

“Bet you can’t,” he shouted back. Jonah was swimming in the direction of the deep end, apparently to act as judge. Buffy hoisted herself out of the pool and made a beeline for the high dive. TJ was content to follow at his own pace. If she went first, he could see what she was going to do, and then base his own dive off of that. He had no idea what criteria they were being judged on – he doubted that Jonah was a professional dive judge, but he found that he didn’t really care. It would be fun to dive a bit, regardless of who “won.”

Buffy executed a neat swan dive off the board and soon popped up to the surface. TJ waited until she was out of the way before bouncing on the board a few times and diving in himself. The cool water was a slight shock to his warm skin, but it felt nice after sitting in the sun. He broke through the surface of the water and glanced over at Jonah who was supposed to be judging. The other boy looked between him and Buffy before shrugged sheepishly.

“They both looked good?” he said.

Buffy and TJ both groaned loudly, though jokingly. TJ heard laughter from the side of the pool where Andi and Cyrus were now sitting, feet dangling in the water.

“Who was better?” Buffy demanded of them.

“Both were better than anything I could do,” Cyrus said cheerfully. She rolled her eyes before swimming to the ladder again.

“How are we supposed to beat one another if we don’t have a real judge?” TJ asked her as he followed.

“Well, since our friends are useless, I guess we don’t have to make it a competition,” she said grudgingly. “I think I’m just going to work on my form.”

She had barely taken two steps towards the boards when a figure rushed past her, going as fast as one could go without outright running.

“CANNONBALL!” TJ heard before Marty launched himself into the pool, creating a huge splash that soaked all four of them. Andi and Cyrus both shrieked as the water hit them, having not gotten wet yet. Buffy had turned just in time and only her back got hit. TJ was still in the water, so it didn’t really bother him. Marty’s head popped back above the surface and he sent a giant mischievous grin in Buffy’s direction. She simply rolled her eyes and grabbed Andi before dragging the other girl in the direction of the boards.

Cyrus was left sitting on the wall by himself, wiping water off his face from Marty’s splash. TJ gave him a grin as he finally hoisted himself up the ladder.

“Wanna go?” he asked, gesturing in the direction of the boards. Cyrus looked over and shook his head emphatically.

“Nope, I’m good!” he said cheerfully.

“What are you going to do instead?” TJ asked, standing next to Cyrus. The other boy looked up at him, making a face at the water that was dripping off TJ and onto him. His cheeks were slightly pink, which TJ figured was from sitting in the sun for so long.

“I’m fine with watching,” Cyrus said. Behind them, Buffy launched off the board into her own cannonball. Cyrus looked wistfully out at the scene.

“Do you know how to swim?” TJ asked.

“Yes!” Cyrus said, sounding slightly offended. “I just don’t like the diving board.”

“Why not?” TJ asked, still not moving away. There were at least two things on Cyrus’ list that he could potentially check off, but it would require Cyrus jumping into the deep end.

“Well, I can’t dive, and jumping into the deep end scares me a bit,” he admitted, his cheeks turning a darker red. “You just sink so fast, and sometimes it feels like you won’t make it to the surface in time.”

“Should we get you some water wings?” TJ suggested with a teasing smile. Cyrus just returned his smile with a rueful one of his own.

“Mine don’t fit me anymore.”

TJ couldn’t help but crack up laughing. Cyrus smiled as well, but TJ knew him well enough to know that he was actually a little embarrassed about it. He stopped laughed when he realized that, and held a hand out instead.

“C’mon,” he said, “you have to at least try. I’ll go first, so if you need saving, I can pull you up.”

“That makes me feel so much better,” Cyrus grumbled, but he was still smiling, and he allowed TJ to pull him up. Andi was in the middle of jumping in a neat pencil dive, and TJ led Cyrus over to the low dive.

“Just try jumping normally first,” he suggested. “You don’t have to do anything fancy. Get used to jumping into the deep end.”

He went first, leaping into a cannonball, splashing the three that were gathered at the far end of the deep end, away from the jumping zone. He could hear Buffy yelling at him as he came up for air, but just gave her a grin. He then turned and faced the board. Cyrus had walked out to the edge and was nervously bouncing slightly. Looking up, his gaze locked with TJ’s. TJ gave him an encouraging nod, and Cyrus pinched his nose with one hand, squeezed his eyes shut, and jumped.

It wasn’t quite a pencil dive, but he sank quickly. TJ swam a little closer, keeping a close eye on how fast he was coming up. Soon enough, his head broke through the surface and he shook his wet hair out of his eyes.

“Gah!” he gasped out, opening his eyes. “That’s such a scary feeling!”

“You did it though,” TJ said. “Let’s do it again!”

“Ughhh,” Cyrus complained, but he followed TJ to the ladder anyways. They went off a couple more times, each time Cyrus jumping the exact same way. Jonah and Marty soon joined the girls in going off the high dive. Marty, it transpired, was terrible at diving, but it didn’t deter him from trying. Jonah was decent, but he said he didn’t like doing it that much.

After they had jumped off two more times, TJ decided to step it up. “How about a cannonball?” he suggested to Cyrus. The other boy’s eyes widened at the suggestion.

“I don’t know…” he said, eyeing the water. “Wouldn’t I have to go off the high dive for that?”

“Not necessarily,” TJ said. “You’ll want to take a few running steps and bounce harder on this one. If you get high enough, you should have time to tuck your legs and everything.”

Cyrus still looked a little worried, despite TJ’s reassurances.

“You’ll be fine,” TJ said softly. “Just think how fun it’ll be to splash Buffy.”

Cyrus laughed at that, and he nodded. With a look of determination, he climbed up onto the board and started walking to the end. TJ watched with baited breath. He paused halfway down the board and seemed to take a deep breath before moving quickly to the end of the board, giving one large leap, and launching himself into the air. He pulled his legs in, wrapping his arms around them, and hit the water with a gigantic splash. As TJ predicted, he made a big enough wave that he splashed Buffy and Jonah who were in the water, watching the others jump in. They clearly weren’t expecting it, as evidenced by Buffy’s shriek. When Cyrus came up, she looked as though she was going to complain, but instead she broke into a grin and swam over to give him a hug.

“Did you see that?” TJ could hear him yelling. “I finally did a cannonball!”

“High dive time!” she exclaimed, laughing at whatever face he made in response. Instead, Cyrus continued to go off the low dive, slowly building his confidence up the more times he tried it. At one point, Amber wandered over to the group, half-heartedly complaining that they had abandoned her. She sat on the edge of the pool, dangling her legs in, claiming that she didn’t want to get her hair wet.

Finally, through the combined efforts of both Buffy and TJ, they got Cyrus up onto the high dive. TJ went up first, while Buffy stayed below, making sure that Cyrus actually followed him up. TJ did another dive off, and then surfaced as quickly as possible, so he could watch Cyrus. The other boy climbed slowly to the top, gripping the railings tightly. He inched slowly out to the end of the board, and everyone in the group started chanting his name.

“CYRUS! CYRUS! CYRUS! CYRUS!”

TJ wasn’t sure if that was going to help or hurt, but he could see Cyrus shaking his head and trying to fight a smile. He bounced lightly a few times, pinched his nose like he had the first time, and squeezed his eyes shut before stepping off the board and falling into the water. Everyone cheered loudly, as TJ swam closer to where he had entered the water, just in case. Cyrus’ head popped up a few seconds later to renewed cheers from his friends.

“Ahhh that happened!” he exclaimed. He swam over towards the group to get out of Buffy’s way. TJ raised his hand for a high five, which Cyrus gladly slapped.

“Ready to go again?” he asked.

“Once was more than enough,” Cyrus declared. “I did it so I could say that I did it, and that’s all I wanted to do.”

TJ decided not to press the issue. He knew it had taken Cyrus a lot of courage to go up there, and he didn’t want to ruin the moment. Cyrus turned to watch Buffy perform a front flip off the board, entering the water with a graceful motion.

“If only I could dive,” he sighed wistfully.

“Do you know how to?” TJ asked. That had been the other water-related activity on the list, but considering how much it had taken to get Cyrus to do a cannonball, he had kind of figured that they wouldn’t be trying diving today.

“Technically, yes,” Cyrus said. “I did take swimming lessons when I was younger, so I was taught the proper form and everything. But I struggled a bit with the execution.”

“Do you want to try?” TJ suggested.

Cyrus looked back up at the high dive with wide eyes.

“I meant off the wall,” TJ corrected, trying not to laugh at his expression. “You can just stand on the edge of the pool and dive from there.”

“I guess I could try that,” Cyrus said. “It’s a lot closer to the water, so it’s not as scary.”

The two swam over to the ladder, and Cyrus hoisted himself up first. He paused to shake the water off his arms onto Amber, who shrieked and swatted at him. Laughing, he dodged out of her reach and waited for TJ to climb out as well. They moved a little way down, so they were a safe distance from the ladder and Amber.

“Okay, show me what you remember for the form,” TJ said. Cyrus knelt down on the edge of the pool arms extended above his head.

“Looks good,” TJ said. “Just make sure that you’re pointing your head down. You don’t want to have your head facing up when you dive.”

He put a hand on Cyrus’ shoulder, and gently pressed down. He ignored the goosebumps that erupted on his skin when they made contact and tried to focus on making sure that Cyrus was in the correct stance.

“Then I just fall forward, right?” Cyrus interrupted his thoughts.

“Pretty much,” TJ agreed. “Push off with your feet so you propel yourself forward.”

Cyrus took a deep breath before launching himself into a dive. In complete honesty, it wasn’t an amazing dive; it definitely bordered on slight belly flop territory. But he had tried, and that was what matter.

“Whoo, I dived!” Cyrus cheered as he resurfaced. “How was it?”

“Pretty good,” TJ lied, hoping he had a neutral expression on his face. Cyrus studied him for a second before shaking his head.

“It was terrible, wasn’t it?”

“No, it was okay,” TJ insisted. “You could keep practicing, but it wasn’t terrible.”

So, he did keep practicing. If there was one thing about Cyrus that TJ admired (admittedly there was more than one thing) it was that he gave 100% to whatever it was he was doing. After several more tries, he had gotten to the point where his dives were pretty solid. He decided to try a standing one next, which resulted in a more pronounced belly flop, causing Cyrus to resurface groaning loudly.

“Not fun,” he complained. “Ow, my stomach.”

“Try leaning forward more,” TJ suggested. “You really want to make sure your hands and head are going in before your stomach.”

So, he hopped out of the pool and tried again. Once again, he got the hang of it fairly quickly, and soon was diving pretty nicely into the pool.

“Ready for the board?” TJ asked him after he resurfaced.

“Not the high one,” he immediately said.

“Nah, just the low one. It’s not that high above the water, so it should be fine,” TJ said. To his surprise, Cyrus marched right up to the diving board, made his way to the end, and after a brief pause to adjust his stance, he dove neatly into the water. TJ couldn’t help but break out into a grin as he watched. It was kind of amazing to see how much his confidence had grown. Cyrus popped out of the water, hollering in excitement. Andi swam over and gave him a high five as TJ laughed. He then moved over to the high dive to take his turn diving in. Part of him wanted to try a flip like Buffy had done, but he hadn’t done one in a while, and he knew if he messed up in front of her, he would never hear the end of it. So instead, he did a normal dive instead.

A little while later, Jonah stated that he was getting tired, and there was a general agreement to head out. Someone suggested going to the Spoon for milkshakes and they started to gather their stuff up in order to head out.

TJ dried off as best as he could and slung his towel around his neck. He decided to leave his shirt off until they got to the restaurant so that he would be a s dry as possible. As the group made their way down the sidewalk, he found himself walking next to Cyrus, and he bumped the other boy’s shoulder with his own.

“Did you have fun?” he asked. “Mastering the deep end?”

“I did, surprisingly,” Cyrus agreed. Then a conflicted look crossed his face. “I feel a little bad though.”

“What do you mean?” TJ asked in confusion.

“Well, I was so bad at everything that you had to keep helping me,” he said. “You didn’t really get a chance to have fun with the others.”

He wasn’t making eye contact now, and TJ realized that Cyrus was feeling guilty. He hadn’t even thought about the fact that he personally hadn’t had as many chances to go off the diving board. It hadn’t bothered him; he had definitely enjoyed helping Cyrus, and found that more fulfilling than being able to dive a bunch of times. In fact, it almost felt as though they were spending time alone, just the two of them.

“I did have fun,” TJ insisted. “I like helping you. And you wouldn’t have been having fun if you had to sit on the sidelines the entire time.”

“I mean, I’m used to it,” Cyrus insisted. “It wouldn’t have been that big of a deal.”

“But wasn’t it more fun to be able to join in with everyone?” TJ asked him. Cyrus glanced over at him and then nodded. “Well, then what’s the problem? I had fun.”

“You’re sure?” Cyrus asked, still looking a little worried.

“Definitely sure,” TJ reassured him with a grin, bumping their shoulders again. “Besides,” he dropped his voice, “I can’t do those crazy flips that Buffy can do, and this way, I didn’t have to let her know that.”

Cyrus laughed at that, looking a lot more cheerful. “Hmm, that’s an interesting piece of information. I’ll have to remember that.”

TJ gasped in mock outrage. “I trust you and this is what I get? Betrayal?”

“Hey, will you guys hurry up?” Buffy’s voice interrupted them. The group had reached the Spoon, and she was holding the door open, waiting for them to catch up with the rest of the group. Cyrus let out a mock evil laugh before running towards the door. TJ just laughed and followed him in. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grad school is kicking my butt, so chapter updates are more likely going to be coming once a week instead of twice now. This story has morphed into something more than what I originally planned, which was just going to be TJ helping Cyrus with some of his list stuff. It means the story will be longer, but it's taking me longer than anticipated to write. But I'm excited with the direction that it's going to go!

Things I Can’t Do:

  * _~~Somersault~~_
  * _Cartwheel_
  * _~~Ice skate~~_
  * _Roller blade_
  * _~~Skateboard (tried and failed)~~_
  * _~~Ride electric bike~~_
  * _~~Rock climb~~_
  * _~~Bowl a strike without bumpers~~_
  * _Hit a baseball_
  * _~~Make a basket~~_
  * _~~Climb a tree~~_
  * _~~Monkey bars~~_
  * _~~Cannonball~~_
  * _~~Diving~~_
  * _Catch a fish_



“So, I’ve never camped before in my life.”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

Cyrus shoved TJ’s shoulder lightly at the comment. They were in Cyrus’ room, and TJ was attempting to help him pack for camping. Andi’s parents had decided that it would be fun to plan a camping trip over Fourth of July weekend, and Andi was allowed to invite her friends. From what he understood, a lot of them had never gone camping before, Cyrus included, so he figured it was going to definitely be an interesting weekend. It had been a few years since he had gone himself, but when he was a Cub Scout, TJ had gone camping all the time. It was his favorite activity from scouts, so he was excited to be doing it again.

Cyrus had asked him to come over to help him figure out what to pack for the weekend, and when TJ arrived, it seemed like half his closet had exploded across his room. His suitcase lay opened and empty across his bed, and Cyrus was looking rather frazzled.

“Okay, so we’re going to be gone for four days and three nights,” TJ recounted. “We’re leaving Thursday morning, so you don’t need to pack an outfit for that day because you’ll be wearing it. You should be fine with one pair of pajamas for all three nights. So, get three shirts – either T-shirts or tanks. Two pairs of shorts. I would suggest athletic style ones, since we’ll probably be doing some hiking and other outdoorsy stuff. Socks, underwear, swimsuit, towel.”

As he listed off items, Cyrus was shifting through his clothing somewhat frantically. TJ tried to remember if he had ever seen Cyrus wear a basic T-shirt before. Sometimes it seemed like he lived in polos.

“Okay, three shirts,” Cyrus repeated, tossing some towards his suitcase. It seemed he did own T-shirts then. “I have my gym shorts?”

“Those should be fine,” TJ nodded.

“Socks, underwear,” Cyrus muttered, crossing to his dresser. “Do I need extras?”

“You can never go wrong with extra socks,” TJ said. “Underwear should be fine.”

“Pajamas,” Cyrus opened another drawer and pulled some out. He lobbed everything in his hands towards his bed, missing by a wide margin. “Swimsuit?”

"I’m assuming there’s going to be a lake there,” TJ said. Cyrus paused, clearly trying to remember where the article of clothing was.

“It’s probably in the laundry room. I’ll grab it later,” he decided. “What else do I need?”

“A light hoodie,” TJ suggested. “The temperature can go down at night, and mosquitoes will be everywhere.”

Cyrus dug around in one of his clothing piles and extracted a dark blue hoodie. TJ couldn’t help the smile from crossing his face as he recognized it.

“Is that one of mine?” he asked teasingly. Cyrus examined it closely.

“Maybe?” he said sheepishly. “I may have forgotten to give it back after borrowing it.”

“It’s fine,” TJ said with a wave of his hand. He had so many that he hadn’t even noticed it was missing. And part of him liked the idea that Cyrus still had it (and was going to be wearing it).

“Do I need, like, toothpaste and stuff?” Cyrus asked, interrupting his thoughts.

“Yeah, basic toiletries,” TJ agreed. “They have bathrooms and showers there. They’re not super fancy, but you can clean up and brush your teeth every night.”

“All righty,” Cyrus darted out of his room in the direction of the bathroom. TJ could hear him clattering through the drawers. He figured he could have reminded Cyrus that he still had several nights before they left and didn’t need to pack that stuff right away but decided that it would probably help the other boy to have everything gathered in one place, so he knew what to bring.

While he waited, he gathered up all the clothing that Cyrus had tossed in the direction of his suitcase and tossed it inside of the case. He could tell that Cyrus was a little over his head with the camping stuff, and he had a sneaking suspicion that he was the type of person to bring two weeks’ worth of clothing for a weekend trip if left unsupervised.

“Do I need to bring bug spray?” Cyrus said, sticking his head back into the room.

“Well, it depends,” TJ replied. “Was there one person in charge of all that stuff, or is everyone responsible for their own?”

“All I know is that that Bex and Bowie are bringing the tents and the food. They said everything else was on us.”

“Then bring bug spray,” TJ said. “Also, sunscreen.”

“Band-aids?” Cyrus suggested. “I get hurt easily.”

“I have a first-aid kit,” TJ said. “I can bring that for everyone.”

“Good idea,” Cyrus grinned, before retreated back to the bathroom.

After gathering his toiletries, TJ threw out more suggestions, including a hat, sunglasses, a water bottle, sandals, and a portable charger. Once Cyrus had gathered everything he needed, he packed it up and TJ helped him make a list of things to also bring that he wouldn’t need until the day of, including his pillow, shoes, and a sleeping bag.

“Looks like you’re all ready to go camping,” TJ said, as he helped Cyrus gather up his extra clothing and return it to his closet.

“I hope so,” Cyrus replied. “I keep worrying that I’m going to forget something.”

“Well, if you do, I’m sure we’ll be close enough to a store that you can always run in and get something if you really need it,” TJ said. “We’re not going to be _that_ far from civilization.”

“Thanks for all the help,” Cyrus said as TJ grabbed his phone and got ready to leave. “I’m sure I would have brought a whole bunch of useless stuff otherwise.”

“No problem,” TJ replied. “If I’m sharing a tent with you, I don’t want to have to deal with you lugging half your closet in there.”

Cyrus merely stuck his tongue out at TJ in reply to that, causing the other boy to laugh. They said their goodbyes and TJ headed home. He hadn’t started his own packing yet, but he figured he could throw it all together the night before since he knew what to all bring.

\------

On Thursday morning, they all met at the Mack’s apartment. It seemed that Andi’s parents had rented a van to get all of them down there, and her dad was using his work truck, which was loaded up with tents, coolers, lawn chairs, and fishing poles. Everyone but Marty was there when TJ turned up, and it seemed like everyone was super pumped about the trip. While they were waiting, they started loading duffels and sleeping bags into the trunk of the van. Andi’s mom announced that she was going to do a donut run really quickly and hopped on her motorcycle to head to the nearest gas station. Buffy texted Marty to see what was taking him so long, as they were still waiting on him to show up.

The teens sat around the living room, talking excitedly about what they were going to do once they got to the campground. Jonah had brought his guitar and was apparently planning on doing songs around the campfire. Buffy was excited about a hiking trail that was well-known for its spectacular views. It transpired that Andi, Amber, and Cyrus had all never gone camping before, so they were not sure what to expect, but looking forward to the experience.

Marty ended up showing up just as Bex rolled back up the driveway, donut box balanced across the handlebars of her bike. The former looked a little flustered, as he had apparently slept through his alarm and only woken up when Buffy texted him. They were teasing him about it as Bex came in, proudly declaring that she had donuts for breakfast. Everyone eagerly crowded around the box, grabbing for a donut. When they finished up, they headed out to the cars while Bowie locked up the apartment.

Andi, Jonah, and Amber decided to ride in the truck with Bowie, while the others piled into the van with Bex. Buffy and Marty crawled into the backseat, while Cyrus and TJ took the middle. Extra bags and pillows were piled in the passenger seat next to Bex, along with a bag of snacks that she had brought, despite the fact that they only had about a two-hour drive to the campground. TJ had to laugh as he watched Cyrus argue with Bex for control of the aux chord. Apparently the two had differing tastes when it came to music. Eventually, she relented and allowed him to plug his phone in.

They had barely pulled out of the driveway when Cyrus started playing ‘On the Road Again.’ Everyone immediately groaned loudly when they recognized the song. Buffy leaned forward to swat at Cyrus and demanded that he change the song.

“I will turn this car around and leave you here!” Bex threatened. Cyrus just laughed and ducked around Buffy’s hand.

“One song and then I’ll play normal music!” he promised. And despite the initial protests, they soon found themselves singing loudly along with the song. It was cheesy, but it was fun. TJ found himself grinning widely and they half-sang, half-shouted the words. True to his word, Cyrus switched over to some classic rock which Bex seemed to approve of.

The drive seemed to fly by, and after a stop at a gas station for a bathroom break, they made it to the campground. After checking in, they drove through the winding road to their campsite. As they stepped out, TJ took a deep breath. He always loved the smell of the forest, and the faint scent of campfires from some nearby sites. He had almost forgotten how much he loved camping.

The first order of business was setting up the tents, which proved to be an interesting experience. The boys got the biggest one, since they were the largest group. The girls got a slightly smaller one, and Bex and Bowie got one to themselves as well. They each found a spot to pitch their tents and attempted to get to work. TJ was usually pretty good at putting up tents, but considering who he was working with, it was a miracle they got it up at all. Marty probably would have been pretty helpful, but he and Buffy decided to make it a boys-vs-girls race, and in his haste, he kept skipping steps, which made the whole process take even longer. Jonah was good at listening to directions, but Marty’s frantic rushing was clearly stressing him out. And Cyrus, while clearly trying his hardest, spent more time dropping stakes or almost losing control of the poles.

Eventually though, they got it standing correctly. TJ let out a silent prayer that it stayed standing the entire weekend. The girls had easily beaten them, a fact that Buffy was clearly going to rub in their faces the entire weekend. Andi’s parents had gotten theirs set up as well, although it was leaning at a strange angle.

“I thought you guys had camped before,” Amber remarked, looking at the odd shape of their tent.

“We have,” Bowie said defensively. “I’ve just never used this tent before. I borrowed all of these from a buddy of mine.”

“Why do I have the feeling that your definition of camping involved you propping up a blanket between two sticks and lying under it, hoping that it didn’t rain?” Buffy asked skeptically, causing Bex to crack up.

By the time they got their tents set up, it was lunchtime, and everyone was starving. After digging through the coolers, Bex pulled out the makings for sandwiches, and they got an assembly line going. As they ate, they discussed what their plans were for the weekend.

“So, after lunch, I was thinking we could go down to the lake. I’ve got fishing gear if anyone wants to do that,” Bowie said. “You can swim too. Tomorrow is all the Fourth stuff in town. Saturday would probably be a good day for hiking; I know that was a request. Sunday, it kind of depends what you guys want to do. We have to leave the campsite by three, so we’ll just need to make sure we have enough time to pack everything up.”

Everyone agreed that the plans sounded good, and they started cleaning up from lunch. They dragged their bags into the tents and grabbed out their swimsuits and sandals. The lake was relatively close to their campsite, so they walked down instead of driving. There were showers and bathrooms down by the lake, so they ended up changing in there.

The lake was fairly busy, as it was a warm day and a lot of people had brought lunch down to eat on the shore. Buffy and Marty stopped long enough to drop their towels before charging headfirst into the water. Jonah followed them at a more relaxed pace. Bex situated herself under a tree with a book, while Andi and Amber ended up walking along the edge of the water, talking amongst themselves. Bowie settled down on the ground next to Bex, looking as though he was ready to take a nap. TJ was considering heading towards the water, but he was waiting to see what Cyrus wanted to do. The other boy was eyeing the fishing equipment that Bowie had brought to the lake with them, and TJ remembered that fishing was one of the things on the list.

“Do you want to try fishing?” he asked.

“I do,” Cyrus admitted. “I just don’t know how. Do you?”

“Yeah, I’ve done it before,” TJ said, trying to sound casual. “I could show you.”

“All right!” Cyrus said, darting forward, almost stepping on the poles in his hurry. “Hey Bowie, can we use these?”

“Knock yourselves out,” Bowie offered. TJ moved over to help Cyrus out before he accidentally impaled himself on a hook or something. He picked two poles for them and pulled out a couple pieces of bait from the tackle box. They headed over to a pier that was further away from the swimmers and seemed to be used for fishing purposes.

“Okay, so to start off with, you want to hook a piece of bait onto the end,” TJ said, handing Cyrus a pole and a piece of bait. He watched as the other boy did so, struggling a little to balance the rod and attach the bait at the same time.

“Then you’re going to cast your line into the water,” TJ said, propping his own rod up against the railing and moving to assist Cyrus.

“So, you want to press down on this button on the reel,” he said, showing Cyrus where to look. “Carefully bring your rod up above your head as you’re holding it.” He watched as Cyrus slowly brought the pole up, keeping an eye on the hook as it swung around.

“I know we’re alone over here, but you always want to look around to make sure no one is in your way. Accidentally hooking someone is not a pleasant experience.”

“Are you speaking from experience?” Cyrus teased.

“I have witnessed many a fishing incident in my time,” TJ joked. “I’ve never hooked anyone though.”

“What next?” Cyrus asked.

“You want to bring your rod forward in one single sweeping motion. As soon as your rod is eye level, let go of the button, and the line should go flying out into the water. Don’t let go of the rod though,” TJ cautioned last minute, having a sudden image of Cyrus accidentally tossing the entire fishing pole out into the lake. He stepped back and let Cyrus try.

In his nerves, he let got of the button too soon, and the line simply plopped down into the water in front of them. He pouted slightly, but TJ just instructed him to reel in back in and try again. Part of TJ wanted to step up and help guide his hand in the process (which had nothing to do with the physical proximity that would result in) but he knew it would be better for Cyrus to get used to how it was supposed to feel on his own. Plus, as much as he wanted to help Cyrus, he also knew how clumsy the other boy could be, and he wasn’t sure how close he really wanted to get with the sharp hook flying around.

It took Cyrus a few more tries (and one close encounter with the hook near his hair) before the line flew in a graceful arc out into the water and plopped down a decent distance from them.

“There you go!” TJ cheered.

“Finally,” Cyrus sighed with relief. “Now what?”

“Now we fish,” TJ said, grabbing his own rod and casting out in a different direction from Cyrus.

“How long will it take?” Cyrus asked.

“No idea,” TJ said cheerfully. He sat down, dangling his feet off the edge of the pier. Cyrus did the same, wobbling slightly as he settled down.

“How do I know if I caught something?” Cyrus asked.

“You should feel something tugging on your line. Then you want to start reeling it in. Just yell if you feel something.”

So, they sat there, feeling the heat from the sun baking into their skin. TJ closed his eyes and soaked in the atmosphere. The swimmers further down the lake were laughing and splashing in the water. The steady hum of cicadas droned on from the trees that lined the lake. He could smell a mixture of campfire and hamburgers being cooked on a grill. It was the perfect symphony of summer, and he took a few minutes to just appreciate it.

The afternoon ticked on, and their lines remained untouched. Normally TJ didn’t like to spend too much time fishing because he didn’t have the patience for it, but he didn’t mind this time. It was nice, hearing the noise from the lake, but not being in the middle of it. He and Cyrus were alone on the pier, and it was like they were in a little bubble, separate from the rest of the world.

Cyrus, however, was not taking to fishing. He had been patient at first, but as time passed, TJ could sense his impatience.

“Are you sure there are fish in this lake?” he grumbled.

“Yes, there are,” TJ replied, biting back a chuckle. “Don’t tell me you’re bored already.”

“It would be less boring if I had caught something,” he replied. Just as he finished talking, his line jerked suddenly, and he let out a yelp.

“Fish! Help!” he cried, scrambling to his feet, pulling on his rod.

“Reel it in!” TJ exclaimed, laying his own rod down and hurrying over to help. Cyrus had grasped the handle and started cranking on it, but whatever fish he had caught was not giving up without a fight.

“Just keep reeling,” TJ encouraged him. “You’re stronger than him.”

“It feels like he’s going to break the pole!” Cyrus cried, but kept reeling the line in. As it got closer to the pier, TJ could see the vague shape of a fish flopping in the water, fighting against the pull. He was ready to lean over and help Cyrus, when the other boy gave a pull and the fish broke through the surface of the water. Cyrus let out a huge yelp as the fish swung towards him, splashing water over both the boys as it flapped frantically.

“Whoa!” TJ yelled, jumping forward to help Cyrus. He grabbed the line just above the bobber, holding the fish as steady as he could. It was still flapping back and forth, but it wasn’t swinging wildly at least. Cyrus managed to regain his grip on his rod and was staring wide-eyed at the fish. TJ wasn’t an expert on fish sizing or what was considered impressive, but the fish that Cyrus had caught was a decent size. He was pretty sure he had never caught one that big before.

“Here, grab the line where my fingers are,” TJ said, handing the line over to him.

“Do I have to?” Cyrus complained, but did as he was told. He held the fish as far away from his body as possible as TJ pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“He’s trying to kill me!” Cyrus yelped, cringing away from the fish as it continued its bid for freedom.

“Smile!” TJ said, snapping several pictures of Cyrus with his fish.

“Ahhh!” was Cyrus’ response. TJ laughed, swiping through the pictures he took. He didn’t get a dignified one of Cyrus, but the ones he took were pretty funny at least. He had a feeling that Cyrus wasn’t going to tolerate holding the fish for much longer.

Then he heard a distant shout of their names. Looking past Cyrus, he saw Bowie standing on the beach, waving his arms at them.

“DINNER!” Bowie bellowed when he saw he had their attention. TJ laughed and shot him a thumbs up, causing Cyrus to groan.

“I can’t eat him! I’ve just stared into his face. He’s judging me!”

Behind Bowie, Bex took in what was happening and bellowed back,

“NO!”

TJ cracked up at her response and moved forward to take the fish from Cyrus, who looked very relieved to get rid of it.

“You sure you don’t want to keep him?” he asked teasingly.

“Absolutely not,” Cyrus declared, cringing as TJ unhooked the fish and tossed him back into the water. After that, he decided that he was done with fishing, and they headed back down to the beach. TJ hadn’t caught anything, but from the lack of bites that they had gotten, he had to wonder if that area was lacking in fish after all. He didn’t really mind; he had been getting bored too and the only reason he had gone fishing in the first place was to help Cyrus.

“Happy that you learned how to fish?” he asked as they walked along the path.

“I can cross it off my list and never do it again,” Cyrus declared, giving a fake shiver. “Glad to know that I don’t like it, so I have an excuse to not do it.”

The mention of the list startled TJ slightly. It was the first time that Cyrus had mentioned it since he had sent the list to TJ all those months ago. Even though they had been crossing things off of it, Cyrus had never brought up that any of those activities were on the list in the first place. He brushed it off as a coincidence, and they met up with the rest of their friends on the beach. They headed out to the water and proceeded to goof around in the lake for the rest of the afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The camping saga will continue in several parts - not sure how many yet!


	12. Chapter 12

Things I Can’t Do:

  * _~~Somersault~~_
  * _Cartwheel_
  * _~~Ice skate~~_
  * _Roller blade_
  * _~~Skateboard (tried and failed)~~_
  * _~~Ride electric bike~~_
  * _~~Rock climb~~_
  * _~~Bowl a strike without bumpers~~_
  * _Hit a baseball_
  * _~~Make a basket~~_
  * _~~Climb a tree~~_
  * _~~Monkey bars~~_
  * _~~Cannonball~~_
  * _~~Diving~~_
  * _~~Catch a fish~~_



When they got back to their campsite later, they started getting things ready for dinner. Bowie had bought some wood at the ranger station, so a couple of the kids started collecting sticks for kindling, while the others helped get the food set out. Buffy called dibs on starting the first fire, and soon it was crackling away. They were having hot dogs, and everyone grabbed one of the elongated forks and started roasting them over the fire. Dinner was slightly chaotic as people kept getting up to grab stuff from the picnic table or get more food, but as the sun set, everyone finished up their meal and settled into a lawn chair around the fire. TJ found himself between Cyrus and Amber, the former almost bouncing up and down in his chair in excitement.

“Having fun so far?” TJ asked him with a smile.

“Yes!” Cyrus exclaimed. “Camping’s so much fun! I can’t believe that I’ve never done this before.”

“We haven’t even gotten to all the best parts yet,” TJ teased him.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“S’mores,” TJ replied with a big grin. They were all pretty full from dinner, but he had seen the ingredients in one of the coolers, so he knew it would be happening later.

They all chatted aimlessly for a while, before Jonah jumped up and grabbed his guitar. He strummed it a few times, adjusting the strings to make sure that it was tuned before he started playing for real. Before he could actually start the song though, Buffy interrupted him by calling out,

“Anyways, here’s Wonderwall!”

Everyone cracked up except for Jonah who shot her a mock dirty look. As they calmed down, he started strumming for real, and TJ quickly realized it was _Sweet Caroline_. Jonah started off singing by himself, but everyone joined in as they recognized it. As a group, they weren’t exactly in tune, but they were having fun with it, getting loud with the “Oh, oh, ohs.” When they finished that one up, Jonah immediately launched into _Take Me Home Country Roads_. They learned pretty quickly that most of them didn’t know a lot of the words to that song aside from the chorus, so they mostly mumbled through the lyrics, before singing much more loudly when they finally got to the chorus.

After that, a couple of them shouted out requests and they worked through a few more songs. At one point, Bowie told them that they needed to wrap up the singing as it was getting late and they didn’t want to get noise complaints. They took advantage of the break to break out the s’mores. TJ was in the process of getting his plate all ready to go with the other ingredients and paused to watch Cyrus stick his marshmallow directly into the flames. Unsurprisingly, the marshmallow caught fire pretty quickly after that.

“No!” Cyrus cried, pulling it out, yelping again as he realized that the entire thing was a giant flame. TJ jumped up and quickly blew it out before someone (Cyrus) got hurt. The marshmallow was a solid charcoal color, and Cyrus down to face level, looking disappointed.

“I just wanted it toasted,” he said sadly.

“Here, switch with me,” TJ said, handing over his still-fresh marshmallow.

“Are you sure?” Cyrus asked.

“Yeah, I love them burnt,” TJ replied. He slapped the marshmallow down and folded it into his s’more. “Gives it an extra crunch.”

“Ugh, you’re one of those people,” Bex complained from across the circle where she was eating the marshmallows straight from the bag, not even bothering to toast them.

“How do you get it not burnt?” Cyrus asked, holding his new one cautiously out towards the fire.

“Rest it down near the coals,” TJ said, pointing to where he meant. “It’s hot enough down there that it will toast it, but you won’t be as likely to catch on fire. Just make sure to keep an eye on it, because it can still burn.”

Cyrus got off his chair and crouched down by the fire, carefully navigating his marshmallow towards the base of the fire. A few minutes later, he pulled it out, happy with the golden-brown color it had become. At that point, TJ had toasted two more marshmallows, opting to eat them plain instead of making a full s’more. As everyone finished up their treats, they started grabbing out jackets from bags since the temperature was dropping a bit. Buffy came out of the girls’ tent clutching something in her hand but kept it hidden from everyone.

Once they were settled back in the circle and everyone had finished their food, Buffy pulled out a flashlight and held it dramatically underneath her chin.

“It’s time for ghost stories!” she declared, flicking the light on to highlight her face. Her pronouncement was met with a mixture of cheers and groans. She let out a mock evil laugh in response.

“I’ll go first,” she said unnecessarily. She looked slowly around the circle, making eye contact with everyone before beginning. TJ merely rolled his eyes at her when she looked at him. He didn’t scare easily, and even if her story ended up being scary, he wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she got to him.

“ _There was once a young girl. Her parents were going out for the evening, and she begged to stay home alone without a babysitter. She was old enough at that point and didn’t want to have someone watching her. After a lot of begging, her parents agreed. Most of the night went fine. She had pizza for dinner and got to watch her favorite movies late into the night. As she was getting ready for bed, she checked to make sure all the doors were locked, and the lights were off._

_She was almost asleep when she heard a dripping noise. She got up to see if it was raining outside, but the star and moon were shining brightly. So, she returned to bed, and she as she closed her eyes, she heard the dripping noise again. Her hand was hanging off the edge of the bed and she took comfort when she felt a wet tongue lick it. Knowing that the dog was under her bed made her feel safer. The dripping noise continued, and she finally decided she had to find out what it was._

_The girl got up and turned on the light. The noise continued, and she kept looking for the source. She checked all the sinks and the shower, but she couldn’t find the source of the noise.”_

TJ had to admit, Buffy was pretty good at storytelling. She was dragging out the suspense, varying her voice as she made it to different parts of the story. It sounded kind of similar to a different story he had heard before, and he thought he knew what the ending was going to be. He glanced around the circle. Marty looked like he wasn’t even paying attention and was probably planning his own story to try and one-up Buffy’s. The adults looked more amused than scared, although Bex looked excited to hear the end. The others were rapt with attention, waiting to hear what happened.

Buffy continued with the story.

“ _After looking everywhere in the house, the girl returned to her room. She stood in the middle of the room, listening carefully. It almost sounded like it was coming from somewhere in the room. Finally, after screwing up all her courage, she looked in her closet. There hung her dog, dripping blood, with a note that said, ‘Humans lick, too.’”_

Everyone in the circle let out a yell, either from fear or disgust or some combination of the two.

“Why would you tell us that?” Amber wailed. “That was horrible!”

“Mwahahah!” was Buffy’s only response.

As they calmed down, Marty reached across for the flashlight.

“My turn!” he declared. “Mine’s going to be way scarier than that one.”

“Doubtful,” Buffy shot back but handed him the flashlight anyways.”

“All righty,” Marty said, shining the flashlight under his chin. “This one is called ‘ _The Smiling Man_.’ Hold onto your horses, because it’s about to get creepy up in here.”

Marty then launched into his story, detailing a man who liked taking walks at night. One night when he went for a walk, he encountered a different man coming towards him from the opposite direction. The odd thing about the man was that he was waltzing alone, and when the first man got closer to him, he noticed that the dancing man had an alarming expression – eyes wide and smile stretched unnaturally. The story continued with the man crossing the street to avoid the strange man, only to find him staring directly at him, then slowly following him, stopping whenever the first man looked back.

Marty was also pretty good at telling stories, and this one was somewhat creepier than Buffy’s with a lot more suspense. TJ could actually feel the hair on his arms standing on end, and he was feeling sufficiently creeped out. He glanced to his left to see Cyrus’ reaction. The other boy’s eyes were wide, and he looked extremely freaked out. He reached a hand over and gently placed it on Cyrus’ arm, causing the boy to startle slightly at the contact. TJ flashed an apologetic look at him when Cyrus looked over at him, and he felt the other boy relax slightly underneath his touch. He pulled his hand away and turned his attention back to the story.

“ _And then, after what felt like forever, he turned around, very slowly, and started dance-walking away. Just like that. Not wanting to turn my back to him again, I just watched him go, until he was far enough away to almost be out of sight. And then I realized something. He wasn't moving away anymore, nor was he dancing. I watched in horror as the distant shape of him grew larger and larger. He was coming back my way.”_

Marty paused for emphasis.

_"And this time he was running.”_

Cyrus jumped and grabbed TJ’s arm in alarm. Several others in the group let out exclamations or curse words (definitely from Bex). Cyrus’ grip on his arm was iron tight, and TJ could feel the other boy shaking. He was feeling more than a little spooked himself, and even though he knew it was his imagination, he kept thinking he saw movements in the shadows of the trees around them. He reached over and placed his hand on top of Cyrus’. He only hoped that Cyrus couldn’t feel his own hand shaking.

Marty wrapped up his story, which resulted in the strange man disappearing into thin air and the original man deciding to never go on another nighttime walk again. It was clear from the expressions on everyone’s faces that they were sufficiently freaked out.

“Okay, time for bed!” Bex declared suddenly, rising from her chair. “Big day tomorrow!”

“Wait, I want to tell another one!” Buffy complained.

“No!” several people shouted.

“I guess I’m just too good at telling scary stories,” Marty said, smirking at her. She just scoffed in return.

“Yeah, because no girl has ever had to worry about meeting a creepy guy walking around at night. Real original.”

“Okay, so this is probably a bad time to ask, but who needs to use the bathroom before bed?” Bowie interjected, stopping the argument before it could get going. “We should probably go as a group.”

“Go?” Andi asked nervously. “You don’t mean to the outhouses?”

The public toilets were a ways down the road from their campsite. In the daylight, the walk was pretty short. In the nighttime, with Marty’s story still fresh in their minds, the bathrooms seemed miles away, surrounded by inky blackness.

“You know, I think I’m just gonna go in the bushes,” Jonah said. “Be one with nature and all that, huh?”

This set off a discussion about whether that was gross and/or unfair to the girls. Finally, Bowie declared that everyone would go down to the bathrooms together, and that they shouldn’t be scared of the dark. Armed with flashlights, and walking closer together than they normally would, they all set off down the road towards the outhouses. As they walked, TJ felt Cyrus bumping up against him. He could tell that the other boy was still quite freaked out from the story, and he couldn’t blame him. Normally he didn’t have an overactive imagination, but he was definitely more on edge than usual. But he knew that Cyrus _did_ have an overactive imagination, so he could only imagine what was going through his head.

To his surprise, Cyrus threaded his arm through TJ’s at one point. It drew them even closer together, and for the first time that evening, he was grateful for the darkness, if only to mask the blush that was blazing across his face. He knew Cyrus was doing it as a source of comfort, but he couldn’t help but hyper focus on how close they were. It made walking a little difficult, but everyone was already bumping into each other, since they were sticking so close together. Cyrus didn’t say anything during the walk, even after making that move, so TJ didn’t either. Instead, he just enjoyed the closeness of the moment, and felt slightly disappointed as Cyrus detached his arm once they walked into the glow of the lights from the outside of the bathrooms.

The walk back was just as tense as the walk there, and Bowie had to keep shushing them. A lot of them were talking more loudly than usual, most likely due to nerves, and he didn’t want them getting yelled at for disturbing anyone. TJ didn’t even have a chance to wonder about Cyrus; as soon as they were a few feet away from the bathrooms, he found his arm locked in Cyrus’ again. Part of him wanted to put his arm all the way around Cyrus, to make him feel safer, but he wasn’t feeling quite brave enough to do that. When they made it back to the campsite, they immediately dove into their tents and crawled into their sleeping bags.

“I definitely won, didn’t I?” Marty crowed with triumph as they got settled.

“Yeah, congratulations,” Jonah said sarcastically. “Now no one will be able to get to sleep, and Buffy’s going to spend all day tomorrow trying to find a story that’s even scarier than yours, and the rest of us get to suffer.”

Cyrus groaned loudly at Jonah’s prediction, which meant that he was probably right. Eventually, they all dropped off to sleep, even though it definitely took longer than usual.

\--------

The next morning, they got up and after getting ready, loaded the lawn chairs and some other supplies into the truck, and then drove to the nearby town. There were tons of Fourth of July activities that were going to be happening there, and they had planned to spend the entire day in town. The first thing they did was find a café and got some breakfast. Since the parade in town wasn’t starting until about 11, they took their time eating as they didn’t really have anything else to do. Once everyone was finished, they strolled around town, stopping in little shops and doing some window shopping.

As it got closer to 11, they noticed that more people seemed to be heading in one direction, clearly where the parade was going to be happening. They followed and were able to find seats on the curb along Main Street. TJ didn’t even remember the last time he had gone to a parade; once he hit middle school, he figured he was too old to enjoy them. However, the people he was with clearly didn’t have that same attitude, and he found himself caught up in the excitement as well. When candy was tossed near them, there was a mad scramble to grab it, even though it was just a couple of Tootsie Rolls and Smarties.

When the parade finished up, they waited until the crowd had dispersed a bit, and they ended up wandering around town, looking for someplace to eat. Eventually they stumbled upon a burger place that was fairly busy. Since everyone in town was out and about enjoying the holiday, it took them awhile to get seated and served, but since they had time to kill, nobody complained. When they finished up there, they decided to split up for a while, as everyone had different places they wanted to see. Jonah and Bowie headed off towards a record shop they had passed earlier. Andi and Amber, followed by Bex, headed towards a vintage shop. Buffy and Marty made a beeline for a sports shop that apparently had a “sick shoelace collection” (according to Marty). TJ found himself alone with Cyrus, which he was quite content with.

“What do you want to do?” he asked Cyrus as they watched their friends head off in different directions.

“I don’t know,” Cyrus shrugged. “We could just walk around, see if we find anything interesting. Unless you had something in mind?”

“Not really,” TJ said. “I’m fine with walking around. I’m sure we could find something to do.”

They made their way down the street, passing several little shops. Cyrus started chattering about a movie that he had seen advertised, and TJ did his best to contribute to the conversation. He knew nothing about the movie, but he loved when Cyrus got really into a subject. The boy could go on for hours if not stopped, and regardless of the topic, he usually got very animated with expressive hand gestures and everything. It was pretty adorable, at least in TJ’s opinion, and he found it difficult to pull his attention away from Cyrus when this happened.

The only danger in it was that he wasn’t always able to follow what Cyrus was talking about, either because he was distracted or didn’t know enough about the topic. But as long as he had an interested look on his face and asked some questions, Cyrus didn’t seem to notice.  As they walked, TJ couldn’t help but remember the night before, when Cyrus had linked their arms in the dark. Neither of them had brought it up, and in the light of day, it almost felt as though it had happened in a dream or something. But it had been real, and the desire to move closer to Cyrus as they walked, and link arms or even hands was very real in TJ’s mind. Not that he was actually brave enough to do that. But the thought persisted, especially as the backs of their hands kept brushing against one another.

“Look, swings!” Cyrus suddenly cried out, interrupting his own monologue. TJ looked at where he was pointing, and sure enough, there was a playground up ahead of them with a swing set

“Race you there?” TJ offered. Cyrus gave him a smirk before immediately taking off towards the playground.

“Hey!” TJ protested, starting to run too. He caught up to Cyrus fairly quickly but didn’t pass him, so they reached the swings at the same time.

“I’m slow, so I deserve a handicap,” Cyrus said as he settled himself into one of the swings.

“Or you’re just a big cheater,” TJ teased him, kicking himself off.

They both got their swings going, and even though they were on a completely different playground from the one they usually went to, there was something about swinging with Cyrus that felt as easy and natural as breathing. They ended up spending a good chunk of the afternoon there, moving from the swings to a picnic table when they got tired of swinging.

Around four, they both got a text from Buffy. She had sent one out to the entire group, saying that she and Marty had done some scoping out and found a field that would be the perfect place to set up their chairs for fireworks viewing. Through a series of texts, they agreed to all meet up by the vehicles, find a place to park near the field, and then figure out what to do about supper. Once everyone had reconvened, some with shopping bags, they drove over to the field that the two had found. It was bordering some tennis courts and near the local high school. Some people had set up chairs already, but the field was still mostly empty.

They lugged the lawn chairs out and got them set up in the middle of the field. Bex said that they had seen some food trucks nearby, so they took turns going over in small groups to grab something for supper. As the sun slowly sank below the horizon, more and more people started showing up to get ready for the fireworks. Their group still had a decent amount of free space around them though, so when Jonah pulled a Frisbee out of his bag, they spread out in a large circle and tossed it around. When they got bored with that, they headed back to their chairs which were being watched by the adults. Everyone took turns spraying each other with bug spray, since the mosquitoes were getting a lot worse as it got darker.

Buffy was the one who started doing gymnastics tricks. In the open, grassy area, she performed several cartwheels and roundoffs. Not to let the unspoken challenge go by, Marty started doing some too. His form wasn’t nearly as graceful, but it didn’t stop him from trying. Amber was surprisingly flexible as well, which she explained as having done some gymnastics when she was younger. Everyone took a turn trying a cartwheel, with varying results. TJ hadn’t done one in a long time, so he knew his was pretty rusty, but he was definitely better than Jonah who almost face-planted trying to do one.

“Cyrus,” Buffy said teasingly. “Your turn!”

“Very funny,” he said dryly. “You know I can’t do one. It only took me fourteen years to learn how to do a somersault. Cartwheels are out of the question.”

She simply shrugged and let the issue drop, which surprised TJ a little. He figured that she would have pushed Cyrus to try, but instead just let it go. When TJ turned to look at Cyrus, the boy’s face was a mixture of relief and…sad? He was watching the others turning cartwheels in the grass, and had a look that seemed almost like one of longing.

“Do you want to learn how to do one?” TJ asked him.

Cyrus looked at him in surprise. “You saw how long it took me to get a hang of a somersault, and that’s the easiest move of all time. There’s no way I could do a cartwheel.”

“It doesn’t have to be perfect,” TJ persisted. “Nobody’s going to be as good as Buffy is at it. But even if it’s bad, you can say that you did one.”

Cyrus seemed to be considering it. TJ knew him well enough at this point that he could tell Cyrus wanted to try it but was still a little hesitant.

“We can practice away from everyone else,” TJ suggested, wondering if that was the issue. Buffy and Marty had started a contest to see who could do the most cartwheels in a row anyways, so everyone was focused on that. Cyrus bit his lip before nodding. The two moved to a free area behind where their chairs were set up.

“All right, you want to start by spreading your legs to a little wider than shoulder-width,” TJ instructed, showing Cyrus what he meant. The other boy mirrored his stance. “Spread your arms straight out as well.”

Once he was in the position, TJ continued. “So, moving slowly, you want to place your one hand on the ground. Lift your opposite leg up and put your other hand on the ground as well.” He went through the motions, wanting Cyrus to get the hang of where his limbs should be going. Straightening back up, he checked on Cyrus’ form. His limbs were splayed a little awkwardly and he was wobbling in place, but he was technically doing it right.

“Okay, so once both your hands are on the ground, you kick your other leg up and over.”

“Wait, what?” Cyrus cried, slightly muffled.

“Here, watch me,” TJ said, waiting for the other boy to stand back up. He took a few steps back in preparation before propelling himself forward into the cartwheel.

“You do have to move a bit faster when you’re actually doing it, otherwise your legs won’t get up in time,” he said. “Your main goal is to get your feet off the ground and make a sort of half circle with them.”

“Well, that’s the problem,” Cyrus said. “My feet don’t want to leave the ground at the same time.”

“I know it’s a little scary the first time,” TJ said, “but you have to push through the fear and kick your legs up. That’s the only way to actually be able to do the cartwheel.”

“Easier said than done,” Cyrus huffed, but he repositioned himself. He took a deep breath. Then he took another one. He rocked forward on one foot but didn’t go any further. TJ bit his lower lip but didn’t say anything. He knew that this was all on Cyrus. There was only so much encouragement that he could give the other boy.

Finally, Cyrus leaned forward, placed his hands in the grass and kicked off from the ground. His legs flew over him, bent at the knees, and he landed in a crouch, almost falling over onto the grass. But both of his feet had come off the ground, so it was technically a cartwheel.

“Did I do it?” he asked TJ, looking up at him with hopeful eyes.

“You did it!” TJ cheered, breaking out into a giant grin.

“Was it terrible? I feel like it was terrible,” Cyrus said with a sheepish grin, standing up and shaking his arms out.

“It was…a complete cartwheel,” TJ said, not wanting to be brutally honest. Cyrus just laughed.

“So, that’s a yes. But who cares? I did one!” He did a little happy dance where he stood, making TJ laugh at how cute it was. To his surprise, Cyrus got into the position again and launched into another cartwheel. It was about as bad as the first one, but he did it with much more confidence. As he straightened, TJ felt something brush past him, and suddenly Buffy was there, throwing her arms around Cyrus’ neck.

“I saw that!” she cried, spinning him around in a hug. “You did it!”

“I did it!” he cheered, hugging her back. Just then, Bex called for them to all come back over to the chairs. As they did, she started handing out sparklers. Bowie pulled out a lighter and they took turns lighting theirs up. It was dark enough at this point for the sparklers to be used. Backing away from the chairs, they spun around the grass, twirling their sparklers in circles, laughing in glee. Bex pulled out a camera and started snapping pictures of them.

Once they ran out of sparklers, they got settled into their chairs and on top of blankets. A bag of snacks was passed around, and they got ready for the show to start. One single firework shot up into the air, exploding into the air above them. A cheer went up from the field around them as more fireworks followed.

It was a pretty good show – better than anything that Shadyside had ever done. Afterwards, they packed up everything, lugging it back to the truck. On the drive back to the campsite, they were quiet, all tired out from the events of the day. TJ found himself in the backseat with Cyrus. Halfway through the ride, he was startled out of his thoughts when Cyrus’ head suddenly dropped down onto his shoulder. Glancing over, he saw that the other boy had fallen asleep. He smiled gently and carefully rested his head on top of Cyrus’. The other boy’s hair was soft against his cheek, and he soon found his own eyes drifting shut. He was jolted awake when Bex drove onto the bumpy ground of their campsite. Everyone stumbled sleepily to their tents and fell asleep almost immediately upon crawling into their sleeping bags.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buffy's story is pretty much word-for-word; I just reworded it slightly.
> 
> If you want to read Marty's story in full, the link is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/rvzaq/the_smiling_man/ 
> 
> I would not recommend reading it at night!


	13. Chapter 13

Things I Can’t Do:

  * _~~Somersault~~_
  * _~~Cartwheel~~_
  * _~~Ice skate~~_
  * _Roller blade_
  * _~~Skateboard (tried and failed)~~_
  * _~~Ride electric bike~~_
  * _~~Rock climb~~_
  * _~~Bowl a strike without bumpers~~_
  * _Hit a baseball_
  * _~~Make a basket~~_
  * _~~Climb a tree~~_
  * _~~Monkey bars~~_
  * _~~Cannonball~~_
  * _~~Diving~~_
  * _~~Catch a fish~~_



The next morning, everyone slept in. They were awakened by the smell of food cooking. As they slowly emerged from their tents, they found that Bowie had the fire going and was cooking some breakfast sausages over it. Once everyone was awake and had been fed, they discussed what their plans were for the day.

“Today we had the hike planned,” Bowie said. “There’s a spot near here where we can connect with it, and we should be able to get up on the bluffs where all the good views are.”

“Everyone should pack a lunch and a water bottle,” Bex said. “We’ll eat at the top before heading down.” After cleaning up from breakfast, they got to work making sandwiches, filling up water, and slapping on sunscreen. When everyone was reading, they headed down the road to where the trail began.

It was a beautiful day for a hike, with the sun shining above and only a few puffy, white clouds in the sky. The trail started off pretty level, but they soon were hiking up an incline. Buffy and Marty were at the head of the trail, with Buffy talking excitedly about how good the view was supposed to be at the top. TJ could have been up there with them, but he wanted to walk with Cyrus who was definitely near the back of the group.

“You gonna be fine?” he asked, as Cyrus was already panting a bit.

“Probably,” the other boy said breathlessly. “Someone might have to carry me back though.”

“Downhill is the easy part though,” TJ teased him. “We’ll just roll you down.”

“I’m okay with that,” Cyrus said.

Eventually they did make it to the top of the bluffs, and the lake stretched out in front of them, crystal blue and beautiful. Everyone paused to take a drink of water before they started taking pictures of the scenery. TJ snapped a couple of pictures before sitting against a large boulder that was off to the side. He didn’t really care about having a picture of himself in front of the lake, so he was content with watching the others do so. Andi, Buffy, and Cyrus had Bex take one of them together with their arms around each other. Once they were finished, Amber darted forward to take one with Andi, the two girls wrapping their arms around each other.

After everyone had their fill of picture taking, they started to head back down the path. Cyrus was definitely lagging behind the group at this point. TJ hung back to walk with him. The other boy looked completely wiped.

“You okay?” TJ asked. Cyrus looked more than a little exhausted.

“Ugh,” was Cyrus’ winded response. “More hiking. I know I’m out of shape, but I didn’t realize it was this bad.”

“If you need to stop and rest, just let me know,” TJ said. “Do you have enough water left?”

Cyrus rattled his bottle. There was some water sloshing around in it, but not a ton.

“I suppose I should have rationed a bit more,” Cyrus said with a weak smile. “I’m not used to figuring out my water-to-exercise ratio.”

“I have plenty left if you really need some,” TJ assured him. “And we’ll be back at camp before you know it.”

“Speak for yourself,” Cyrus replied. “I may have to take you up on that rolling me back offer.”

It had taken them about an hour to make it to the top, and TJ figured it would be a similar length on the way back. Possibly a little shorter since they were going downhill, but they had to still watch their footing on the steep parts. Plus, Cyrus was moving pretty slowly, so it would likely take him longer than everyone else. TJ didn’t mind walking slower to match the other boy; he was just worried that Cyrus was going to pass out or something. Even though he had waved off TJ’s concerns, he didn’t look so good.

They walked in relative silence for another fifteen minutes or so. TJ was feeling a little tired, so he could only imagine how Cyrus was feeling. The other boy had stumbled over rocks and tree roots several times and did not look like he was enjoying himself. He wasn’t complaining though; if anything, he was walking even more determinedly, as though he was going to make it back to camp even if he ended up crawling there.

And then he stumbled over another tree root, this time losing his balance completely, and falling onto his hands and knees. His water bottle went flying and he cried out in pain. TJ skidded to a stop, crouching down to check on him.

“Are you okay?” he asked worriedly. Cyrus accepted his offered hand and shakily stood up, brushing dirt off of himself.

“Yeah,” Cyrus said quietly, not making eye contact. TJ knew him well enough to know that he was lying. He jogged slightly down the trail to grab Cyrus’ water bottle. Walking back, he could see that Cyrus had scraped his knees pretty badly in his fall, and it looked like his palms were in a similar condition. His face was downcast rather red, which could have been either from the sun, exertion, embarrassment, or a combination of the three. He also looked like he was ready to collapse on the side of the trail.

“Here,” TJ said, handing him his water bottle. Cyrus accepted it with a quiet thank you. TJ bit his lip hesitantly before throwing on a confident smile and turning his back to Cyrus.

“Hop on,” he said. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the look of confusion on Cyrus’ face.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Piggy back ride,” TJ said. “You look like you could use a break.”

“It’s probably not safe,” Cyrus said, but there was no real conviction in his voice.

“Just get on,” TJ said, rolling his eyes and smiling. “Maybe we can catch up with the others.”

The rest of their group, in fact, was quite a way down the trail, not having realized that the other two had paused. Cyrus hesitated for a second before placing his hands on TJ’s shoulders and jumping up onto his back.

He wasn’t that heavy, TJ was surprised to find, so walking wasn’t that difficult. He made sure to keep an eye on the ground though; tripping would not end well in this situation. Cyrus was still quiet, his arms wrapped loosely around TJ’s neck. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was embarrassed or if he was just tired. Normally Cyrus was talking a mile a minute about something, but he had stopped doing so around halfway through the hike up. TJ had initially assumed it was because he was out of breath, but now he wondered if Cyrus was actually embarrassed about how quickly he had gotten tired out. The other boy usually joked about his lack of athleticism, but it was a little different if he was feeling like he was actually being left behind.

Eventually they caught up with the group again. Amber made a comment about wanting a ride down the hill too, and Buffy told TJ that carrying Cyrus was now his job, but nobody else said anything about how long it had taken them to catch up, which TJ was grateful for. Once they finally made it back to their campsite, TJ made Cyrus sit in one of the lawn chairs while he got out the first aid kit that he had brought. He had gotten certified because of his job at the gym, and he was able to help Cyrus clean out his injuries from his fall. The other boy was still on the quiet side, but he thanked TJ with a genuine smile.

Everyone was pretty tired from the hike and they spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around the campsite, either reading, playing cards, or talking quietly. As dinnertime rolled around, they slowly started to rouse themselves to get the food set up. TJ volunteered to start the fire this time (mostly to annoy Buffy who had wanted to do it again). As he was crouching by the firepit, he felt a presence next to him and realized that it was Cyrus.

“I have no idea how to start a fire,” he confessed. “I can’t light a match.”

“Really?” TJ asked in surprise.

“Yeah, it’s on my list of things I can’t do,” Cyrus said with a slightly self-deprecating smile. TJ frowned in confusion. That wasn’t on the list. He would know – he had pretty much memorized it at this point. Cyrus noticed the frown and asked him what was wrong.

“Nothing!” TJ said hastily, turning his attention back to the pile of wood in front of him. “Sure you don’t want to try?”

“I don’t want to waste any matches,” Cyrus said. “Every time I’ve tried, I either snap the match in half or drop it immediately because I’m afraid I’m going to burn myself.”

“Dude, there are like, five hundred matches in this box,” TJ said, giving the box a shake. “If you waste a few, it won’t really matter.”

Cyrus looked hesitant still, so TJ pulled out a match and handed it to Cyrus along with the box.

“Do you know how to light a match?” he asked.

“In theory, yes,” Cyrus replied. “It’s the execution that I have trouble with.”

“Don’t be afraid of the flame,” TJ said. “It’s so small that it won’t really hurt. You’ll have time to move your fingers away. Just move deliberately and carefully.”

It wasn’t the best advice, but he figured that Cyrus’ biggest hang-up with the match lighting was the worry of injury, not the technique itself. Although, he was reconsidering that thought a few minutes later when half a dozen broken matches lay scattered in the fire pit.

“I can’t do this,” Cyrus complained, thrusting the box of matches back at TJ, who grabbed it, surprised at his attitude. While Cyrus had doubted himself before, he had never been this grumpy or upset about struggling before.

“If I light it, will you use it to start the fire?” TJ asked him. Maybe he was in a bad mood because of the hike. If he could at least get part of the task done, that might help improve his mood a little bit.

“I don’t know how,” Cyrus said. “I’ve never gotten as far as lighting the match, so I don’t know what comes next.”

“You want the tinder to catch on fire,” TJ said. “That’s the pine needles and crumpled newspaper. Once that catches, we poke the kindling in and get that going. You just keep working it up to bigger and bigger pieces until everything is going. Trust me, the pine needles will catch quickly. It’s keeping it going that’s the trick.”

Cyrus just shrugged. TJ took that as a yes and struck up a match. He handed it over to Cyrus who took it carefully and lowered it down to a branch that was covered in pine needles. They flared up instantly, and TJ grabbed a piece of newspaper and fed that to the flames as well. Together, the boys kept adding pieces to the fire, causing it to slowly spread. Before long, the logs had caught it, and the fire was crackling merrily away.

“See? You did it!” TJ said, bumping Cyrus’ shoulder with his own once they stood up.

“You mean we did it,” Cyrus replied. TJ cast a look over at him. He still seemed sullen and grumpy. TJ had never seen him in a mood like this before. They were interrupted by Bowie though, who thanked them for starting the fire and told them to go over and get their food. Cyrus drifted over towards the picnic table, and TJ followed him slowly. He watched as Buffy approached Cyrus, talking animatedly to him. The other boy however, only responded to her briefly as he put some food on his plate and headed back over towards the fire.

“Do you know what’s wrong with him?” TJ asked Buffy as he walked up to her.

“I don’t know,” she said, squinting after her friend. “He gets like this sometimes, but it’s pretty rare. I think he might just be overtired from the hiking and everything.”

TJ hoped it was just that. He had never really dealt with Cyrus in a bad mood before, and it was weirding him out. The rest of the evening, he kept an eye on Cyrus but didn’t approach him again. The boy was quiet and withdrawn while the others boisterously joined in on the singing around the fire. Ghost stories were banned by Bex, who had apparently not enjoyed them the last time around. They turned in early that night, as they were all pretty wiped from the events of the day.

\------

The next morning, after they had breakfast, they got to work packing up the tents, chairs, and everything else they had brought. They were back on the road by lunchtime and stopped at a McDonalds to eat once they had been driving for a while. It was a pretty quiet ride back as they were all still kind of tired from the long weekend.  When they made it back to the Mack’s apartment, they helped unload the big stuff, and then started going their separate ways, either walking home or being picked up by parents. TJ was going to walk home but had wanted to say goodbye to Cyrus before he left. However, the other boy had sunk into an armchair in the Mack’s living room and still looked to be in a melancholy mood. He caught Buffy’s eye and she gave a shrug. So instead he called out a general goodbye to everyone and headed out. He just hoped that Buffy would be able to figure out what was bothering Cyrus and that the next time they hung out, things would be back to normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter turned out a little angstier than planned - take a wild guess at what episode I watched right before writing it. But don't worry, the angst won't last for long.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for all the angst last chapter - hope this makes up for it!

Things I Can’t Do:

  * _~~Somersault~~_
  * _~~Cartwheel~~_
  * _~~Ice skate~~_
  * _Roller blade_
  * _~~Skateboard (tried and failed)~~_
  * _~~Ride electric bike~~_
  * _~~Rock climb~~_
  * _~~Bowl a strike without bumpers~~_
  * _Hit a baseball_
  * _~~Make a basket~~_
  * _~~Climb a tree~~_
  * _~~Monkey bars~~_
  * _~~Cannonball~~_
  * _~~Diving~~_
  * _~~Catch a fish~~_



It was almost a week after the camping trip before Cyrus texted TJ again. TJ had gone back and forth on whether he should initiate the conversation, but the brusque way that Cyrus had been acting the last time they interacted kept popping into his head and he didn’t want to risk that happening again. He had been wracking his brain, going over the events of the weekend, trying to figure out what went wrong or what he could have done that might have upset Cyrus. He kept coming up empty, and eventually he gave up, not knowing what to do. Of course, Cyrus ended up texting him the next day.

_Can we meet up?_

It was straightforward and to the point. No exclamation points or smileys, two things that tended to overpopulate Cyrus’ texts. The worry that he had done something wrong bubbled up again, and TJ had to fight it as he responded with an affirmative to Cyrus’ text. They agreed on a time and place, and TJ had to endure a restless night, wondering what was going on with his friend. So, it was with some level of trepidation that he headed to the Spoon the following afternoon.

Cyrus was already there, sitting in a booth, playing with his phone. His face was serious, and he only gave TJ a half smile as he slid into the seat.

“What’s up?” TJ asked after the waitress had taken his order. Cyrus seemed to take a deep breath, and instead of answering, he unlocked his phone and turned the screen towards TJ. He recognized what was on the screen immediately – it was Cyrus’ list. Most of the items on it were now crossed off. The entire list wasn’t visible, but TJ knew it so well by now that he could have said what the hidden ones were.

Their eyes met, and TJ felt a surge of guilt. And worry. And confusion. Cyrus’ expression was unreadable, and he wasn’t sure if the other boy was mad at him.

“Have you been trying to get me to do things on my list?” Cyrus asked him.

“Yes,” TJ confirmed after pausing slightly. He still couldn’t tell what Cyrus was thinking.

“Why?” The question was posed simply, and for a moment, TJ wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Because…” he started off. “I thought you wanted to do those things?”

“I did,” Cyrus said. “But why didn’t you tell me we were doing them?”

“I guess I thought it would be easier if you weren’t thinking about doing it in regards to crossing something off the list,” TJ replied. “It would take the pressure off.”

Cyrus had turned his phone back to face him and was turning it absentmindedly around in his hands. He didn’t respond to TJ’s explanation.

“I’m sorry?” TJ offered up. He wished he could tell what Cyrus was thinking, but the other boy still had a relatively neutral expression on his face. At his apology, Cyrus looked up in surprise.

“I’m not mad at you,” he said. TJ felt a swooping sensation of relief. “I was just confused,” Cyrus continued.

“How so?” TJ asked.

“Well, once I figured out what you were doing, I just wasn’t sure why,” Cyrus explained. “You made a big deal out of helping me with the somersault, and then you’ve just been doing this the whole time without telling me.”

“How did you figure it out?” TJ asked him.

“Well, it was two things,” Cyrus said. “I went to cross off fishing because we did that while camping. Then as I was looking at the list, I realized that there were a lot of things that I could now cross off. All those things I had done with you. And then I remembered you making a weird face when I said that lighting a match was on my list.”

“I did?” TJ said. He must have looked confused, since it hadn’t been on the list.

“Yeah,” Cyrus confirmed. “That was something that I had added more recently. And then I remembered that I had sent you a copy of the list. I’ve only shown it to a couple of people, and you were one of them.”

“Is that why you haven’t talked to me since the trip?” TJ asked hesitantly. Cyrus looked confused at his question.

“No?” he responded. “I was never mad at you. I was waiting for you to text me, but then I figured you didn’t want to do any more of the things on the list.”

Now TJ was confused. “Why would you think that?” he asked. “You seemed upset on the last day of the trip, and I couldn’t figure out why. I wasn’t sure if you were upset with me, so I thought I’d give you some space.”

Cyrus only looked more confused at this. “The last day…oh,” he said slowly. “I wasn’t upset with you. Do you mean after the hike?”

“Yeah,” TJ nodded. “You seemed really grumpy and didn’t want to talk or anything.”

Cyrus heaved a deep sigh. “No, that had nothing to do with you. I was in a bad mood, but it was just because of me.” At TJ’s inquiring look, he continued. “I’m not a huge hiker, as you may have noticed.” TJ laughed lightly.  “I was tired from the hiking, and I kept feeling like I was falling behind everyone else. Sometimes it’s hard being the only non-athletic friend in the group. Then on top of all of that, I tripped and hurt myself, which was really embarrassing. So, I was more upset with myself for just being bad at everything. The whole situation with not being able to light a match was just the icing on the cake. I didn’t mean to be grumpy towards you; it was just a bad day for me.”

“It’s okay,” TJ reassured him. “I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t something I said or did.”

“No,” Cyrus shook his head, running a hand absentmindedly through his hair, making it stick up in odd directions. TJ had to bite back a smile at how cute it made him look. “You were really nice to me all day. But you’re really good at outdoorsy stuff. And all the stuff on my list that I can’t do. I was just feeling kind of embarrassed.”

“You don’t have to feel embarrassed,” TJ reassured him. “There are tons of things you can do that I can’t.”

“Like what?” Cyrus scoffed.

“Math,” TJ offered up with a small smile. That got a laugh out of Cyrus.

“That doesn’t count,” he said. “You have an actual reason why that’s hard for you.”

“You’re really good with feelings and stuff like that,” TJ told him. “I’m terrible with that.”

“Thank my parents for that,” Cyrus said, not sounding convinced.

“I’m serious,” TJ insisted. “You know how to make people feel better. That’s a real skill. I’m literally the worst at that. A lot of people are.”

Cyrus shook his head, but he was starting to smile a bit, so TJ pushed on.

“I’ve seen you calm Jonah down after a panic attack,” he said. “That was scary, and it wasn’t even happening to me. I had no idea what to do. If it was just me there, I probably would have made it worse and panicked alongside him. But you got him to calm down and he was relatively okay afterwards. You know exactly what to say to someone to make them feel good about themselves. I’ve seen you do it for so many people. And you can get people to work together, even if they don’t get along at all. And –”

“Okay, okay, I get your point,” Cyrus interrupted him, a smile definitely on his face now, and his cheeks a little pink with the praise. “Maybe I’m good at some things. But I still can’t do simple things like lighting a match.”

“So?” TJ said. “They have those clicker ones now. Not being able to light a match doesn’t say anything about you as a person. There are very few situations in life where you’re actually going to need that skill.”

Cyrus shook his head, but TJ could see that he looked happier than he had earlier. He was relieved that things were going back to normal between the two of them now.

“Did you add some more stuff to the list then?” he asked. “I don’t have the match one.”

“Just a few,” Cyrus said. “But I still haven’t crossed off everything from what you do have.”

“Only two left,” TJ grinned at him. Cyrus looked a little confused and reopened his phone. “Just baseball and roller blading left. Cartwheels are the extent of my gymnastics ability, so if you want someone to teach you more gymnastics, it’ll have to be someone else.”

“Hmm, you’re right,” Cyrus mused, scrolling through his list. “I couldn’t remember where the cutoff was.”

“Catch a fish was the last one that I have,” TJ told him. “Unless you want to send me the new ones.”

Cyrus paused slightly, and his finger hovered over his phone screen. “Shouldn’t we finish up the other ones first?”

“Do you want to still do them?” TJ asked, a smile spreading across his face. Cyrus gave him a one-shoulder shrug in response.

“Got this far, didn’t we?” he said. “Might as well finish up the list.” He paused, looking a little unsure. “Besides, I can’t send you all of the new ones.”

“Why not?” TJ asked. Cyrus was looking a little nervous now, which was odd.

“Well, I have to do one of the ones on the list first, and then I can share the other ones with you,” he replied.

TJ was more than a little confused at that statement. Cyrus looked at the expression on his face before continuing.

“One of them involves telling you something. Once I tell you, then I can tell you what the other ones are,” he said.

“Telling me something is a difficult thing for you to do?” TJ repeated, still confused by what Cyrus meant.

“I mean, it’s not just you. It’s telling people in general,” Cyrus explained. “But I’d have to tell you for the purposes of the list.”

“Okay,” TJ said slowly. What could possibly be so difficult for Cyrus to tell him?

“I will tell you,” Cyrus assured him. “I want to. It’s just…hard. Scary.”

“You know you can tell me anything,” TJ reassured him.

“I know,” Cyrus said. “This is something I have to do by myself though. You can’t really help me with this one.”

“All right,” TJ said. “Whenever you’re ready, I’m all ears.”

“So,” Cyrus said, clearly ready to change the subject. “Should we do something?”

“Pick your poison,” TJ said. “Roller blading or baseball?”

“Baseball,” Cyrus decided after pausing to think about it. “Seems less likely to be painful.”

“Baseball it is,” TJ said, starting to get up. “Let’s head over to the park then.”

\-------

At the park, TJ gathered up the equipment they would need. Given Cyrus’ lack of experience, he figured it would probably be better if he was the one throwing the ball, rather than using the pitching machine. He also grabbed the t-ball stand as an afterthought. Cyrus was standing at home, kicking at the sand as he waited for TJ to come back. He wrinkled his nose at the sight of the t-ball stand.

“Really?” he protested.

“Show me you can hit it perfectly off this thing and we’ll put it away,” TJ said with a teasing grin. Cyrus scoffed slightly, but didn’t complain anymore.

“So, what experience do you have with baseball?” TJ asked him.

“Well, gym class obviously,” Cyrus said. “Which generally consisted of me striking out every time I was up at bat, and looking for four leaf clovers in the outfield, praying that the ball wouldn’t come near me.”

TJ laughed as he got the stand set up. “Sounds about right,” he said, earning himself a shoulder bump from Cyrus. “We’ll start with this just to get the basics down and to make sure your stance is good.”

He placed the ball on the stand and handed Cyrus the bat. The other boy took it, looking somewhat dubious. He grasped it with both hands and lined himself up with the stand. TJ looked over his stance before _tsking_ exaggeratedly and shaking his head.

“What?” Cyrus said, sounding insulted.

“Here,” TJ said, moving over to him. “Spread your feet a bit.” He lightly kicked the inside of Cyrus’ foot, making him move it out more. Walking around the other boy, he gently readjusted his stance by pulling at his hips. TJ was glad Cyrus’ back was to him because his cheeks were starting to feel warm from the contact.

“You’re too tense. You need to loosen up a bit.” He slid his fingers over Cyrus’ where they were gripping the bat and demonstrated how his hands should be wrapped around the bat. Cyrus complied easily, and it soon looked less like he was holding the bat like it was a club. TJ couldn’t help but notice how close they were standing to one another and was very grateful that they weren’t face-to-face.

“Now show me a swing. Don’t hit anything yet; just go through the motion.”

Cyrus did so, and TJ was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.  He told Cyrus so, and then moved the t-ball stand closer, making sure that the ball was balanced. He jogged around in front of Cyrus and backed up towards the pitcher’s mound.

“All right give it your best shot,” he called out. Cyrus’ face was one of pure determination as he swung the bat backwards and then forwards. It was a nice, strong swing, but unfortunately his aim was off. He hit the t-ball stand with a solid _thwock_ and the ball bounced off.

TJ cracked up. He couldn’t help himself. Cyrus stood motionless for a moment, staring at the t-ball stand, now lying on the ground, before sighing and picking it up. TJ composed himself and waited as Cyrus tried again. This time he overcompensated and swung too high, missing the ball completely. He glared at TJ as though daring him to laugh, and TJ had to fight back the urge. Cyrus straightened up again, readjusted his stance, and took another swing. This time he connected with the ball. It came flying directly at TJ who threw his hands out just in time to catch it before it hit him. He hadn’t thought to grab a glove for himself, so he let loose a few choice curse words as the impact stung his hands.

Cyrus was doing a victory dance at home plate which helped to distract TJ from the pain in his hands. He jogged over to where Cyrus was and grabbed the t-ball stand, dragging it off to the side.

“What are you doing?” Cyrus asked.

“Now it’s time to try it without the stand,” TJ told him. “I’m going to pitch to you. It doesn’t count as you hitting the baseball until you do it the right way.”

“We may be here a while,” Cyrus informed him.

“That’s okay with me,” TJ shrugged. “Just remember, keep your eye on the ball.”

“Everyone always says that, but it never helps!” Cyrus called after him as he jogged back out to the pitcher’s mound. He started tossing pitches to Cyrus, and he soon realized that they were indeed going to be there for a while. Cyrus had a tendency to swing too early, missing the ball entirely. He hit a couple of them, but they glanced off the bat, landing firmly in the ‘foul’ territory. TJ shouted out suggestions for aiming, but there wasn’t much he could do as far as improving his aim. To his credit, Cyrus didn’t complain about how long it was taking. TJ could see the frustration on his face every time he missed, but he just lined himself up and tried again.

Finally, he managed to hit one. It sailed high above TJ’s head (which meant he didn’t have to catch it) and into the outfield. He whooped out loud and Cyrus started happy dancing again.

“Run!” TJ shouted at him. “Around the bases!” Cyrus chucked the bat off to the side and took off, almost tripping over his own feet immediately. TJ jogged lazily out to get the ball, letting Cyrus make his way around the bases, waving his arms excitedly in the air the entire time. He laughed as he watched, feeling a fluttery sensation in his stomach as he watched Cyrus. He was happy that he had finally succeeded, and he loved watching how excited Cyrus would get when he finally accomplished a task. It was also more fun now that they both were actively working towards achieving something.

He met Cyrus at home plate and gave him a high five. “Want to try again?” he asked.

“Nope,” Cyrus declared. “My arms hurt. Besides, I only had to do it once. Now I never have to do it again.”

TJ just laughed and shook his head as Cyrus pulled out his phone to cross off the list. The two of them put all the equipment back before heading out.

“So, roller blading next?” TJ said.

“I may need a few days rest,” Cyrus said, swinging his arms.

“You don’t use your arms to roller blade,” TJ countered.

“I’m still tired,” Cyrus retorted. “I’m not used to this much physical activity.”

“Fine, fine,” TJ said. “Just let me know when you’re ready.”

“You’ll be the first to know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just about finished with writing this story, so I may be able to update a little more frequently in the next few weeks.


	15. Chapter 15

Things I Can’t Do:

  * _~~Somersault~~_
  * _~~Cartwheel~~_
  * _~~Ice skate~~_
  * _Roller blade_
  * _~~Skateboard (tried and failed)~~_
  * _~~Ride electric bike~~_
  * _~~Rock climb~~_
  * _~~Bowl a strike without bumpers~~_
  * _~~Hit a baseball~~_
  * _~~Make a basket~~_
  * _~~Climb a tree~~_
  * _~~Monkey bars~~_
  * _~~Cannonball~~_
  * _~~Diving~~_
  * _~~Catch a fish~~_



Summer was winding to a close, and TJ was feeling a mixture of sadness and excitement. He never wanted summer to end, but this fall he would be starting high school, which was going to be an adventure in itself. He and Cyrus had been spending a lot of time together in the last remaining weeks, sometimes with the group and sometimes just the two of them. Cyrus hadn’t said anything about rollerblading yet, but since it was an indoor activity, TJ supposed it didn’t matter if they didn’t get it done before summer ended. While he had initially felt a little sad at the prospect of them finishing the list, there was the fact that Cyrus apparently had more things he had added. TJ had enjoyed being able to help him with everything, and he liked that he always had an excuse to hang out with the other boy. Logically, he knew that he didn’t need an excuse – they were friends and could hang out whenever they wanted. But he liked it when it was just him and Cyrus spending time alone.

It was the second-to-last week of summer when Cyrus texted him one morning and asked him if he could meet at the swings. TJ agreed readily, curious about what he wanted. While they jumped onto the swings quite often if they were out at the park, they rarely made plans to meet up there. Usually they found themselves there by coincidence when one of them had something going on.

When he got to the park, Cyrus was already there, swinging high. He had approached from behind, so he took advantage of the opportunity. Breaking into a run, he grabbed Cyrus’ swing as it came back and started pushing the other boy forward.

“Underdog!” he yelled, running underneath Cyrus. The other boy let out a yell of surprise as TJ emerged from in front of his feet.

“Give me a warning next time!” he admonished TJ as the other boy plopped into his own swing.

“I yelled,” TJ said with an innocent smile. “What’s up?”

Cyrus didn’t answer immediately, but TJ noticed that his swinging was slowing down. He also wasn’t making eye contact which was unusual for him.

“Do you remember when I told you there was something on my list that I had to do before I could tell you about the other ones?” Cyrus finally said.

“Yeah,” TJ said. He had wondered about it but had no idea what Cyrus could mean by it.

“Well, I want to tell you,” Cyrus said, studying his feet.

“You can tell me anything,” TJ reassured him. His curiosity was increasing, and he was feeling a little worried. Cyrus sounded very serious and his face reflected that. At least what TJ could see of it. He had never seen Cyrus so withdrawn before, and he was starting to wonder if it was something bad.

“Are you…I mean, is everything okay?” he asked hesitantly.

“Okay?” Cyrus asked in confusion, finally looking up.

“You’re not dying, or something are you?” TJ said with a half-laugh, although he was still feeling nervous.

Cyrus stared at him for a second before laughing quietly. “No, I’m not dying. It’s not bad. It’s just…scary.”

“You have nothing to be scared of,” TJ said immediately. Cyrus’ comment about him being intimidating flashed into his mind and he mentally shook it off. This wasn’t the time for beating himself up.

“I’ve told other people, but it’s still scary every time I tell someone new,” Cyrus said quietly. “It gets easier every time, but it’s still not easy.”

TJ didn’t say anything this time. He would just be repeating himself, and he had the feeling that there wasn’t anything else he could say to Cyrus. It was up to the other boy to tell him when he was ready. He faced forward, taking his gaze off of Cyrus, wanting him to feel as little pressure as possible. He could hear Cyrus take a deep breath. And then another one. It was just like how he would psych himself up before doing a new activity that was scary for him.

“I’m gay.”

The admission came quietly, and TJ was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he almost missed it. When it registered in his brain, it was like an explosion took place in his mind. Thoughts were firing around at a million miles per hour, bounding off of one another and crowding to be at the front of his mind. But he pushed all of them back when he looked over at Cyrus. He was staring at the ground, and from what TJ could see of his face, he looked nervous.

“Okay,” he said gently. Cyrus looked up at him, almost eagerly. TJ smiled at him, wanting to put him at ease. They made eye contact, and Cyrus visibly relaxed.

“Did you want to talk about it more?” TJ asked, not really sure what else to say. Cyrus had said he had told other people (and TJ was sure he could guess who some of them were) but he didn’t know if he wanted to discuss it in detail or if he was letting TJ know.

“I mean, we don’t have to,” Cyrus said, pushing his swing into motion again. “I just wanted to tell you. You’re one of my closest friends, and I’m trying to tell people. I would have told you sooner, but it’s still scary to do it.”

“So, you put it on your list?” TJ asked. “Coming out, I mean.”

“Yeah,” Cyrus replied. “In theory, it’s easy. All I have to do is say two words. Technically, it’s a lot easier than climbing a rock wall. But it’s actually really hard. I don’t know if it’s something I can ever cross off the list completely. But I figured I would start with the people closest to me that I actually really need to know.”

“Makes sense,” TJ said. Both of them were swinging again, but they weren’t going very high so they could continue talking. “Who have you told already?”

“Buffy, Andi, and Jonah,” he said. “I want to tell my parents; I just haven’t yet.”

“Do you think they’ll be okay with it?” TJ asked. Cyrus’ parents seemed pretty open-minded, and given their professions, they had to have had patients who were dealing with their sexuality.

“I’m pretty sure they will be,” Cyrus said. “I’m sure we’ll have a nice, long conversation about it, and my feelings. It’s just the thought of telling all of them at once that’s kind of intimidating.”

“Maybe just tell one of them at first?” TJ suggested. “You’re closest with your mom, right? And then go from there.”

“That’s a good idea,” Cyrus mused. “I’ll definitely keep it in mind.”

“What were the other things on the list then? The things you said you couldn’t tell me until you did this one first.”

“Oh,” Cyrus said. “Just like…asking a guy out. First date kind of stuff. I know it’s not like the other things I had on there, but it’s stuff that’s easy but I’m scared to do. You don’t have to help me with that kind of stuff. I just wanted it on the list. And maybe I’ll be able to do it one day.”

“Are you trying to say I’d be a terrible wingman?” TJ asked teasingly.

Cyrus shot him a look and TJ was pretty sure he was trying not to laugh. TJ stuck his tongue out in response and they both burst into laughter.

They swung in silence for a few minutes. While they weren’t talking, TJ’s mind was racing a mile a minute. All the thoughts he had pushed away before were rushing back. Everything he had been feeling for the past year or so that he kept ignoring was demanding his attention. He liked Cyrus. He had liked Cyrus for quite a while now, although he kept denying it. There were a lot of reasons why, and he hadn’t taken the time to think them through before. The biggest one was that even if he did like Cyrus, he had always believed there was no chance that Cyrus would ever like him back that way. He had even dated a girl before, which had seemed like proof that Cyrus wouldn’t have been interested in him.

TJ had known for a long time that he wasn’t interested in girls romantically. Whenever his friends talked about girls that they thought were cute or pretty, TJ had always stayed silent. He had never even really had any close female friends and had definitely never had a crush on a girl. While there were girls that he could see himself being friends with, he had never felt that pull of attraction that other guys had described. His heart never skipped a beat when a pretty girl smiled at him or flirted with him. He had never been able to picture himself dating a girl, let alone getting married or anything else relationship-wise. In the past, he had generally just ignored that part of him. Even though some people his age had started dating, not everyone had, and he focused his attention on sports and other activities that he enjoyed.

His attraction to guys had crept slowly up on him. When he was younger and realized that he wasn’t interested in girls, he hadn’t considered any alternative. But once he hit middle school, he started to realize that he found boys to be attractive. He hadn’t developed any serious crushes; it was mostly celebrities in movies or just a passing attraction to someone in one of his classes. While he acknowledged it, he had mostly ignored it. He didn’t like anyone, and he also knew how most people in his friend group would react if he said that he thought that another boy was cute.

But then he met Cyrus.

Cyrus, who was dorky and sweet and caring. Cyrus, who somehow managed to understand TJ and find a way to help him after only talking to him for a few minutes. Cyrus, who always knew the right thing to say, and made TJ feel better about himself after only a few conversations. Cyrus, with the big brown eyes and seemingly endless supply of button-down shirts with funny patterns and funny quips about things most people would never think about. Cyrus, who he wanted to hold hands with, and wrap his arm around, and play with his hair. Cyrus, who he wanted to spend all his time talking to and being with, and who he thought about right before falling asleep, and who was first on his mind when he woke up. Cyrus, who had single-handedly changed him into a different person – a better person – just by existing in his orbit and making him want to be a better person, so that he was someone that Cyrus would want to spend time with.

His feelings had been growing slowly, and he didn’t recognize what they were at first. As he started to realize them, he pushed back against putting a name to what he was feeling. It would complicate things, and inevitably end in him being heartbroken. He had messed up enough relationships with people in his life; he didn’t want to risk ruining this one.

But now here they were. Cyrus liked guys and that was pretty irrefutable. TJ knew that it didn’t mean Cyrus would automatically like him just because he happened to be a guy. But they had grown so close, and they had enough moments that had made him wonder if maybe, just maybe…

He couldn’t confess his feelings. Not yet. Maybe not ever. But Cyrus had just trusted TJ with something about himself that he had kept hidden until then. Something that only a few people knew about, because he wasn’t sure who he could all trust yet. TJ knew that feeling all too well, and while he hadn’t agonized over the decision, he knew how heavy it could weigh on someone. He had never put it into words, even in his own head. Logically, he knew what it meant – liking boys and not liking girls. Admitting it or saying it out loud made it real though, and that had scared him a little bit. But he had been making so many changes in his life, especially since meeting Cyrus. He knew that he could trust Cyrus. Who else better to tell, especially given the circumstances?  Before he had fully realized it, he made his decision.

“Can I tell you something?” he said, breaking the silence between them. His swing was slowly again, but he kept pumping, needing to be moving. If they hadn’t been on swings, he would have likely been pacing back and forth.

“Sure,” Cyrus replied, casting TJ a curious look. TJ took a deep breath. Then another one. He could do this. Like Cyrus said, it was technically easy. All he had to do was say a couple of words. He knew he could trust Cyrus. And he thought about all the things on the list that they had done together, and how Cyrus had given everything his all, even the ones that had scared him. TJ could do the same. This was his metaphorical rock wall that he had to climb.

“I think…I might be gay,” he finally said, keeping his eyes forward. His swing was slowing down, now that the words were out. He could feel Cyrus’ gaze on him, and he was torn between making eye contact to see what the expression on Cyrus’ face was, and never looking at him again. Which he knew was ridiculous.

“Yeah?” Cyrus replied, his voice soft and calm. He was using his ‘therapist voice’ as TJ called it. It’s how he talked when he was helping someone through something difficult or scary. It was this that gave TJ the courage to finally turn and look at Cyrus. The other boy had stopped swinging completely and was looking at TJ with a gentle expression on his face. He looked so kind and understanding that TJ almost felt like he could cry. He hadn’t realized how scared of the reaction he would get until the words were actually out of his mouth.

“I mean, I don’t think. I am. I know I am. I just…I’ve never said it out loud before. Even to myself.” TJ could tell he was rambling, but it was like the dam had burst and all the feelings he had been repressing were falling out.

“It’s okay,” Cyrus told him, still speaking gently. “I get it.”

“Sorry, I kind of just took over your moment,” TJ said, realizing that maybe he should have waited and told Cyrus at a later point. But Cyrus just laughed and shook his head.

“TJ, it’s fine,” he said. “I didn’t need it to be a moment. I didn’t want it to be one. I just wanted to be honest with you. And I’m glad you told me.”

“You are?” TJ replied quietly.

Cyrus nodded. “Trust me, I know exactly how scary it can be to tell someone. If I had known someone else who was gay, it would have probably made it easier for me to come out. When I told Buffy the first time, she basically had to guess what I was trying to tell her. I couldn’t even get the words out, I was so scared.”

TJ was silent for a moment. The enormous reality of what had just happened was crashing over him. Now that he had said it out loud, it was real. It scared him, but he knew he would be okay. Somehow, Cyrus had known exactly what to say to make him feel better. Just like he always did. There was more he wanted to tell Cyrus, but he knew this wasn’t the moment for that. For one thing, he was pretty sure he had exhausted his supply of bravery for the day (and probably the month). For another, it didn’t feel like the right moment to confess his feelings. They were both probably reeling from the revelations they had bestowed on each other, and he still didn’t know if there was even a possibility that Cyrus had romantic feelings for him. So, he decided to wait on that for the time being.

“Thank you,” he said instead. “For…everything.” Cyrus smiled at him and got off the swing. He walked over to stand in front of TJ, who realized what Cyrus was going for. He pushed himself off his swing and let Cyrus wrap his arms around him. He did the same, and for a moment, he let himself relax into Cyrus’ embrace. They had hugged before, but this felt different. TJ was feeling more vulnerable than ever before in his life, and he felt safe with Cyrus’ arms wrapped around him. He wished he could convey everything he was feeling into a simple hug, but it wasn’t enough. To his disappointment, they broke apart a few seconds later and Cyrus smiled up at him.

“Want to go to the Spoon?” he asked. “I’ll buy you a milkshake in celebration.”

“Is this celebration-worthy?” TJ asked, grinning back.

“Oh, definitely,” Cyrus said, turning to start walking in the direction of the restaurant. “Right up there with birthdays.”

“I think you just want an excuse to go get baby taters,” TJ teased him, bumping his shoulder with his own.

“I never need an excuse!” Cyrus protested in mock outrage. “I will get baby taters whenever I want! But yes, I do really want some right now.”

Laughing, the two boys made their way to the restaurant. And if they were walking a little closer than usual, well, that was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this chapter planned out for a very long time, and I was always going to have Cyrus say 'I'm gay,' even though I was sure it would never happen on the show, but then lo and behold, it happened. So that was pretty awesome. I did finish writing the story, so there's only one chapter left and the epilogue!


	16. Chapter 16

Things I Can’t Do:

  * _~~Somersault~~_
  * _~~Cartwheel~~_
  * _~~Ice skate~~_
  * _Roller blade_
  * _~~Skateboard (tried and failed)~~_
  * _~~Ride electric bike~~_
  * _~~Rock climb~~_
  * _~~Bowl a strike without bumpers~~_
  * _~~Hit a baseball~~_
  * _~~Make a basket~~_
  * _~~Climb a tree~~_
  * _~~Monkey bars~~_
  * _~~Cannonball~~_
  * _~~Diving~~_
  * _~~Catch a fish~~_



A week had passed since TJ and Cyrus had come out to one another and not much had changed. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. They hung out a few times, sometimes with the group and once or twice on their own. Everyone was getting excited to start high school, and they had all been comparing class schedules when they were released. Amber had promised to give them all an unofficial tour of the school one of the days before classes actually started so they could get an idea of where their classes were going to be. TJ had barely been able to think about high school though, ever since the day at the swings. He had replayed their conversation over and over in his head so many times that he was starting to drive himself crazy.

On one hand, he was immensely relieved. He had finally come out to someone, and that alone had lifted a weight off his shoulders that he didn’t even know had been resting there. The fact that it was Cyrus was even better, as he was one of the people TJ had been most nervous to tell, mostly due to the fact that his feelings for Cyrus were tied pretty closely to it. Finding out that Cyrus was gay as well had thrown his mind into hyperdrive though. There was a chance that Cyrus could feel the same about him. But therein lay the problem. He had no idea if Cyrus felt the same towards him. Sure, he could guess, but he was afraid of guessing wrong. The rational part of his brain said that if he asked Cyrus out and the feelings weren’t mutual, Cyrus would be super nice about it and it wouldn’t ruin their friendship. However, every other instinct that he had was screaming at him that it was a bad idea and he could ruin their friendship for good. They had gone through enough rough patches and struggles already, and he was terrified of messing it up for good.

So, he did nothing. He acted as normally as possible around Cyrus as he could, while mentally wrestling with whether or not to take a chance and ask Cyrus out. At one point, he even considered asking Buffy for advice on what to do, since she knew Cyrus the best, but he couldn’t risk it getting back to Cyrus that he was even entertaining the idea. Instead, he kept his thoughts to himself and developed several ideas for first dates that he would never go on. He was sure his imagination was playing tricks on him, getting his hopes up, as he couldn’t help but wonder if there was a chance. Even though they hadn’t talked about it since the day at the park, he couldn’t help but notice that Cyrus seemed to be acting differently around him. They had always been pretty comfortable around one another, but now it seemed to be up a notch or two. If they were sitting next to each other somewhere, Cyrus would lean against him more often then not, and when they walked somewhere together, it felt like their arms were brushing up one another more frequently than normal.

They hadn’t actually talked about the conversation they had that day, and TJ couldn’t help but wonder why. If Cyrus didn’t have feelings for him, wouldn’t he have wanted to talk? There weren’t exactly a ton of out people in Shadyside, and feelings aside, TJ felt relieved to know that he wasn’t the only person in the entire town that was gay. But neither of them had brought up the conversation, and so they continued to interact in their usual friendly manner, now with more side touching.

When Cyrus texted him one morning, asking if they could meet at the park, TJ agreed immediately, ignoring the butterflies that erupted in his stomach when he saw Cyrus’ name attached to the notification. TJ spent more time than necessary picking out an outfit and making sure his hair looked nice before heading out to the park. He headed automatically towards the swings but was surprised to find them empty. Given how much time he had wasted on his hair, he figured that Cyrus would have beaten him there. He was about to pull out his phone to text the other boy when he heard his name. Looking around, he spotted Cyrus sitting at a picnic table further away from the jungle gym equipment. He jogged over to meet him.

When he reached Cyrus, he noticed that the other boy looked a little nervous. He was twisting his hands around in his lap and looked a little flushed, even though he had apparently been sitting for a little bit.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Hey,” Cyrus started off. “Um, I decided that I wanted to do some list things today. If that’s okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” TJ agreed easily. He was going to sit down next to Cyrus, but then the other boy stood up before he could. They were face to face with only a foot or two of space between them. He could definitely see that Cyrus looked nervous now, but there was also a determined glint in his eyes.

“What did you have in mind?” he asked, noticing that his voice had dropped to a lower volume without him even meaning to do so. “I know you still have rollerblading –”

He cut himself off as Cyrus took a step closer to him. He couldn’t remember a time his face was this close to Cyrus’ before. If he wanted to, he could have counted Cyrus’ eyelashes. But he wasn’t concentrating on that now, because Cyrus’ eyes flickered down to TJ’s lips and back up to his eyes. He took another step closer and TJ’s eye fluttered close involuntarily as he felt Cyrus’ lips press gently against his own. He was pretty sure his heart stopped beating for a second before restarting at a rapid pace. As he opened his eyes again, Cyrus stepped back, his cheeks red.

“Sorry, I was going to ask you –” Cyrus started to say, sounding flustered, but before he could continue, TJ stepped forward, closing the distance between them again. Cupping Cyrus’ face gently in his hands, he leaned in and kissed the other boy again. He felt Cyrus’ hands settle on his waist and for a few moments, they were lost in each other.

This time when they separated, both were grinning with flushed cheeks. TJ rested his forehead against Cyrus’, not wanting to move too far away from him. The sounds from the park slowly drifted back into focus, the distant sounds of kids yelling floated over them. Cyrus ended up being the first to move away, a somewhat bashful look on his face.

“I was going to ask if it was okay to kiss you,” he said quietly. “My body and mouth apparently were not working together today.”

“It’s okay,” TJ reassured him. He could have easily put a stop to it if he had wanted to. But he hadn’t wanted to.

“Was that on your list?” TJ asked teasingly, and Cyrus’ already pink face flushed even darker.

“Yes,” he admitted. “I thought that a date would happen first, but apparently not.”

“We can still do that,” TJ told him, sliding his hands down to entwine them with Cyrus’. “I’ve been trying to work up the courage to ask you.”

“You have?” Cyrus asked in surprise.

“Of course,” TJ replied. “I was scared you didn’t feel the same way though, and I didn’t want to risk our friendship.”

“I was worried about the same thing,” Cyrus admitted. “But I decided to take a risk. And I’m glad I did.”

“I’m glad too,” TJ said, his smile growing wider. They stood there for a few moments, both soaking in what had just happened. Then TJ snapped out of it, realizing that they needed to plan a date now. Every idea he had concocted in the past week flew out of his mind and he felt like he had to come up with something better.

“I have an idea for a date,” Cyrus said. At TJ’s inquiring look, he continued. “There’s still the one thing left on my original list that I haven’t done yet.”

\--------------

  * _Come out to people ~~~~_
    * _~~Tell TJ~~_
  * _~~Ask a boy on a date~~_
  * _~~Kiss a boy~~_



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The epilogue will be out on Friday. I'm pretty sure it's actually longer than this chapter was.


	17. Chapter 17

Things I Can’t Do:

  * _~~Somersault~~_
  * _~~Cartwheel~~_
  * _~~Ice skate~~_
  * _~~Roller blade~~_
  * _~~Skateboard (tried and failed)~~_
  * _~~Ride electric bike~~_
  * _~~Rock climb~~_
  * _~~Bowl a strike without bumpers~~_
  * _~~Hit a baseball~~_
  * _~~Make a basket~~_
  * _~~Climb a tree~~_
  * _~~Monkey bars~~_
  * _~~Cannonball~~_
  * _~~Diving~~_
  * _~~Catch a fish~~_
  * _Come out to people ~~~~_
    * _~~Tell TJ~~_
  * _~~Ask a boy on a date~~_
  * _~~Kiss a boy~~_



On the second-to-last day of summer, TJ and Cyrus met at the roller rink. Cyrus had suggested it for their first date, since it was the only thing they hadn’t crossed off the list. TJ was a bundle of nerves, and he had changed his outfit so many times that he had gotten sick of looking at his clothing. He finally settled on a dark gray t-shirt and nicer pair of shorts. Since they were rollerblading, he knew he couldn’t dress as nicely as he would for a fancier date, but he still wanted to look good. He then spent way too much time trying to do his hair once again. Cyrus had once mentioned that it looked nice when he didn’t put a ton of gel in, but he had been doing his hair that way for so long that he didn’t feel confident not wearing it that way. After trying it out about fifty different ways, he finally ended up washing everything out, quickly drying it, and styling it with only a small amount of gel. At that point, he was getting too close to the time that he had to leave, so he had to leave it the way it was.

When Cyrus approached him, he was wearing a shy smile. TJ couldn’t help the smile that spread across his own face when he made eye contact with the other boy. They stood there, smiling at each other for a moment, before TJ realized that they needed to actually move if they wanted to get the date started. He held the door open for Cyrus and they headed inside.

After paying for their skates, they found a bench where they got them on. At least this was easier than lacing up ice skates, and they were soon ready to go. Cyrus looked slightly apprehensive, and waited until TJ stood up first.

“Ready?” TJ asked him with a teasing grin, stretching out a hand.

“Probably not,” Cyrus replied, matching his grin, although slightly more tentatively. However, he grabbed TJ’s hand and raised himself up. Almost immediately, he wobbled on his blades, but TJ’s firm grip stabilized him.

“Is this going to be easier or harder than ice skating?” TJ asked him.

“I’m not sure,” Cyrus mused. “On one hand, no ice. On the other hand, wheels just keep going.”

TJ laughed and started skating towards the hardwood floor, pulling Cyrus with him. The other boy seemed a little steadier on his feet than he had with ice skating, but that may have been because it was easier to roll than glide. They skated out onto the rink and started moving with the flow of people. It wasn’t super crowded, as most people were probably outside, enjoying the last few days of summer. This meant they could go slowly, and there weren’t a ton of people to get in their way.

They skated together, still holding hands. Cyrus was doing better than TJ had expected. He wobbled a bit, but seemed to be keeping his balance pretty well. TJ had to suspect that part of his problem was simply a confidence issue. If he wasn’t thinking about falling, he was less likely to do so. Of course, he knew the other boy was somewhat uncoordinated in general, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t skate at all.

“Are you sure you even need any help?” TJ teased him. “You seem to be doing just fine.”

“It helps when people aren’t zooming past at fifty miles an hour,” Cyrus retorted. “And I’ve almost fallen at least three times.”

“You’re just a little wobbly,” TJ countered. “Once you get going, I think you’ll be okay.”

Cyrus just made a face, and TJ laughed. Inwardly, he couldn’t help but think how cute Cyrus was. Then he realized that he didn’t have to keep those thoughts to himself anymore. Cyrus knew that he liked him. That fact continued to marvel him, and he couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. He squeezed Cyrus’ hand briefly.

“What?” Cyrus asked, looking over at him.

“Nothing,” TJ said, keeping his eyes straight ahead of him. “Just thought you looked cute.”

He glanced over at Cyrus in time to see him blushing. However, a shy smile was also crossing his face, and TJ laughed out loud. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this happy.

They made a few more laps of the rink, before TJ was pretty sure that Cyrus had gotten the hang of roller blading. He started to let go of Cyrus’ hand, prompting a confused noise from the other boy.

“Don’t you want to try it on your own?” he asked. “Prove that you can do it, so you can cross it off your list?”

“Oh yeah, I guess so,” Cyrus said reluctantly. “I just wanted to keep holding your hand.”

TJ felt himself blushing this time, and Cyrus was the one laughing at him this time.

“Just one lap, all right?” he said, hoping that his cheeks would return to their normal color. “Just to say that you did it. Then we can hold hands again.”

“Sounds good,” Cyrus agreed, and they both (reluctantly) let go of each other’s hands. Cyrus started wobbling almost immediately. It took everything in TJ’s power to not reach out and grab him again. But soon enough, Cyrus got his balance and was skating on his own. He was going a little more slowly than he had been before, but he wasn’t wobbling anymore, and looked fairly comfortable. They made their way around the rink in a full lap, and Cyrus was able to skate the entire way on his own. As soon as they got back to their starting point though, he immediately reached out and grabbed TJ’s hand again.

They skated a few more laps before they decided to take a break. Cyrus sat at a table to save their spot, while TJ went to get some food. He bought a large nacho, a soft pretzel, and sodas for both of them. He was glad he took his skates off before getting the food, because he would have definitely dropped something otherwise. TJ let out a groan as he sank into his seat. His feet were sorer than he had realized. Cyrus eagerly accepted his soda, clearly thirsty from all the exercise he had been doing. They dove into their food, falling easily into conversation. It felt just like it always had between them; they could talk about anything and everything without having to even think about it. A small part of TJ had wondered if things would change between them as they started dating, and he was glad to find that it wasn’t the case.

After they finished up eating, they rested for a little while, watching the other skaters glide around the rink. When TJ asked Cyrus if he wanted to go and skate more, the other boy made a face.

“I’m exhausted,” he admitted. “I had fun, but I don’t know if my legs will be able to handle any more skating today.”

“That’s fine,” TJ reassured him. “We can go turn our skates back in and find something else to do.” Just because the skating was over, it didn’t mean that their date had to end. He didn’t have any specific ideas yet, but he would think of something for them to do. It didn’t really matter after all – as long as they could do it together.

As Cyrus cleaned up their trash, TJ went to return their skates and get their shoes back. Heading outside, they were greeted by a blast of heat and blinding sunlight. Both boys groaned as their eyes suddenly had to adjust to the intense brightness that was a sharp contrast to the dim lighting of the skating rink. Cyrus turned and buried his head into TJ’s shoulder, causing TJ’s heart to skip a beat. Hoping to seem casual, he threw his arm around Cyrus’ shoulder and pulled the other boy closer.

“Guess we should’ve brought our sunglasses, huh?” he joked. Cyrus just groaned exaggeratedly into his shoulder.

Eventually, Cyrus faced the daylight again, and slipped his hand into TJ’s as they walked down the sidewalk. It was such a simple gesture, but it caused the butterflies to erupt in TJ’s stomach. Aside from the situations like skating, they hadn’t actually held hands like this. Walking together, holding hands, was such a couple-y thing to do, and TJ was enjoying every second of it. And this was only their first date. He had a whole, open future with Cyrus stretching out ahead of him. Holding hands, going on dates, kisses, dances…the possibilities of what could happen in their relationship almost made him dizzy with happiness. He shifted his hand slightly so that their fingers were interlocked instead of just clasped together. Cyrus glanced over at him and smiled softly at the movement. TJ matched his grin easily.

They walked aimlessly for a little while until they came upon an ice cream truck that had stopped for some neighborhood kids. TJ immediately ran towards it, dragging Cyrus with him. He paid for both of their cones, despite Cyrus’ protests.

“You can pay on the next date,” TJ promised him, handing him the cone full of chocolate ice cream. He accepted his own strawberry cone from the vendor, and they moved to the side to let other people order. Once they were comfortably situated with their ice cream, they linked hands and kept walking. Cyrus had to be home at a certain time because he had some family stuff going on, so they started heading in the direction of this house. As they walked, Cyrus started talking about high school and how excited he was about it, in between eating his ice cream. TJ chimed in with his own thoughts, and before they knew it, they were standing in front of Cyrus’ mom’s house, their ice cream long gone.

“I had a lot of fun today,” Cyrus said, swinging his other hand around to catch TJ’s empty one.

“I did too,” TJ said earnestly.

“Should we wait until next weekend for our next date?” Cyrus suggested. “I feel like the first week of high school is going to be too crazy to try and fit that in as well.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” TJ agreed. “And that gives us time to figure out what we should do.”

“No more list stuff,” Cyrus said. “We finally finished it!”

“I thought you said you added more,” TJ said.

“Learning how to light a match would be a weird date though,” Cyrus said, wrinkling his nose. “I want to do something actually romantic. Or date-y. You know what I mean.”

TJ laughed and nodded. The word ‘romantic’ ricocheted around his brain for a moment, causing the butterflies to reemerge in his stomach. He wondered when that feeling would go away. Hopefully not for a while.

“I’m sure we can come up with something,” he agreed. Cyrus smiled at him and squeezed his hands. His head was tilted slightly up, and TJ was pretty sure he knew what was supposed to happen next. He leaned in and kissed Cyrus gently on the lips, feeling a rush of happiness and excitement at the sensation. They parted somewhat reluctantly, and Cyrus gave him another giant grin, before turning and heading up towards his house. TJ waited until Cyrus actually made it in the house, turning to wave goodbye one more time at him, before he started heading home.

\-----

Later that night, TJ opened the note on his phone that he had started all those months ago. With a bittersweet feeling, he crossed off ‘rollerblading’ from the list. So much had happened from the time that Cyrus had first sent him the list and they had crossed off somersault. Even though it was a little sad that they had finished everything on the list, he was more than happy with how things had resulted after he decided to help Cyrus with it. He didn’t know what the future held – there was no checklist of things for them to do. But as long as Cyrus was in it, he was ready to meet it.

_The End_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it’s done! (A big thank-you to WikiHow because I spent half my time reading articles on how to do things). When I started this fic, I thought it would be a fun way to dip my toes into the fandom and get used to writing the characters, using something that had been set up in the show. Over time, this story ended up expanding and morphing into something much bigger than what I had initially planned. I’ve been writing fanfiction for twelve years, and this story ended up being almost twice as long as the longest story I had ever written previously, which blew my mind! This fandom has been nothing but welcoming, and I greatly appreciate everyone who commented and left kudos throughout the course of the story. I can’t wait to write some more in this universe, and I have some stuff already in the works. 
> 
> Come check me out on Tumblr @stephadoodles if interested and drop me some prompts!


End file.
